Blood and Glory 2014

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Cerebros
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Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Blood and Glory 2014

Those of you who follow my battle reports will know that I went to the inaugural Blood and Glory in 2013. As I had a good time then, and as it’s reasonably “local”, I'd decided to make it one of the events I went to this year. Unfortunately, a combination of a lack of funds and/or a babysitter meant that the 2014 event would be my only tournament of the year.

Previously, armies I've taken to tournaments have comprised what models I had that were painted or I could be reasonably sure of painting up in time for the event, not necessarily what i thought would be the best units to take had I all units from the High Elf army book painted and available to choose from.

This year was a little different. During last year's Blood and Glory it had become obvious that the list I was using was really lacking the pace to take advantage of the tertiary objectives, which involve using units with Fortitude to capture terrain, as well as one of the scenarios' primary objectives which was to have the most Fortitude points in all the table quarters. With this in mind I had decided to concentrate some of my painting time for 2014 on adding some extra Ellyrian Reaver units with banners to my army to give me that pace. Ideally I'd have liked to have had an Anointed on a Flamespyre and some heavy cavalry to try and make any fortitude points i had in my army a bit more durable but with the amount of painting time I can manage to eek out during the year, and my slow painting speed, I doubted I would get all that done.

I then got a bit sidetracked away from the infantry heavy list I'd been using after giving someone a practice game for a 2500 point event. With the extra points I decided to give a dragon rider a run out along with a unit of Dragon Princes (using the metal ones I have that started painting years ago but abandoned when I bought some of the new plastics to replace them with). After a shock result (in that I gave my opponent, who I’d rate as a lot better player than I am, a bit of a pasting) I decided to get round to painting up the dragon, in between painting the Reavers, as well as running the dragon list for much of the year.

Of course, the problem with that was that the Reavers weren't getting painted all that quickly and I wasn't getting any practice with a list that I might use at this year's Blood and Glory. So it was that, when tickets went on sale, I ended up having to switch back to a predominantly infantry army. Last year I ran two small-ish units of Swordmasters and a unit of White Lions as my main combat blocks. This year, as I was still trying to find time to clean up, assemble and paint my plastic White Lions, and as I didn't want to spend time touching up the metal ones, I instead ran two medium size units of Swordmasters. With a point less strength compared to White Lions I decided to give one of the units the Razor Standard for a bit more cutting power while the other unit I gave the Banner of Eternal Flame to, as I was expecting Watchtower to be one of the scenarios again this year and wanted to have a unit capable of digging out any units garrisoning it.

In my list for last year I'd also run three units of Archers - one medium block of 22 and two 12s. This year I still took Archers but dropped one unit and the size of the two remaining to 15 and ten respectively, although this year both had Standard Bearers as well as musicians. To cover the rest of the Core 25% requirement I increased the number of Reaver units from one to three and equipped all of them with standards and bows, on top of the spears they come with.

As with last year's list, I brought two Eagles, although I upgraded both with Armour Piercing as I find it helpful in taking on Fast Cavalry units that typically have a 5+ save and always seem to make the 6+ armour save they would normally get when wounded by an Eagle. I dropped one Bolt Thrower from this list as well, taking only two this year rather than three.

Finally we come to my characters. I've gradually come round to taking Banner of the World Dragon, so that went on my Noble, who was also equipped with Dragon Armour and a Shield. For my Lords I ran two Archmages this year, as opposed to the Archmage and Loremaster of Hoeth I took last year. My first Archmage was the same as last year, a High Magic Level 4 with the Ruby Ring of Rhuin and a Dispel Scroll. The second was on the Lore of Light and had the Book of Hoeth, Talisman of Endurance and the Ring of Fury. My main reason for putting in a second Level 4 rather than retaining the Loremaster was the boosts and protection available in the Lore of Light that I hoped would help make the Swordmasters that little bit more effective in combat and hopefully give an extra bit of movement to the army when needed via Birona’s Timewarp. Combined with High Magic I figured I should have at least one spell available to me each game that would grant more movement to a unit.


Army List

Archmage (General)
- Level 4 (High Magic)
- Dispel Scroll
- Talisman of Preservation
- Ruby Ring of Rhuin

Archmage
- Level 4 (Lore of Light)
- Book of Hoeth
- Talisman of Endurance
- Khaine's Ring of Fury

Noble
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Dragon Armour
- Shield
- Banner of the World Dragon

5 Ellyrian Reavers
- Standard Bearer
- Bows and Spears

5 Ellyrian Reavers
- Standard Bearer
- Bows and Spears

5 Ellyrian Reavers
- Standard Bearer
- Bows and Spears

15 Archers
- Standard Bearer
- Musician

10 Archers
- Standard Bearer
- Musician

22 Swordmasters of Hoeth
- Standard Bearer
- Musician
- Razor Standard

21 Swordmasters of Hoeth
- Standard Bearer
- Musician
- Banner of Eternal Flame

Lion Chariot

Great Eagle
- Shredding Talons

Great Eagle
- Shredding Talons

Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower

Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower

As seems to be standard for me before events, I couldn’t get more than a couple of practice games in with my final list before the event. I was also in some doubt as to whether I was going to be using the Reaver standard bearers until quite late in the day as I was having difficulty getting the standards to stay stuck to the models. In fact, I was painting right up until the end as I decided I wouldn’t have time to make the necessary fixes to the Dreadstone Blight I’d taken as one of my terrain pieces last year and so decided to paint up a Watchtower I had assembled but hadn’t previously gotten round to painting. (I was actually painting quite late into the night on the Thursday and Friday before the event and on the Friday nearly dozed off a couple of times with the Watchtower in one hand and a paintbrush in the other).

As with my last few reports, unfortunately some info is missing as my notes are a bit unreadable or incomplete due to time constraints. I also completely forgot to get full army lists from any of my opponents at the event, so if you’re looking at the list details I have included and are thinking that they don’t look quite right then the chances are there’s a few magic items or unit upgrades not included.

If you're just interested in the report of my game against Dark Elves you'll want to skip on to game 2.
Last edited by Cerebros on Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cerebros
Dark Rider
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 7:56 pm
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Game 1 - Lawrence Beumer – Dwarfs
Scenario "Heroes of the End Times"

This scenario used the deployment rules for the Dawn Attack from the main rulebook but the victory conditions were based around scoring points for killing characters, with a Hero being worth 1 point, a Lord 2, a Special Character Hero 4 points and Special Character Lord 5 points.

I was at an immediate advantage here in terms of the scenario from the point of view that I only had five points to give up whereas Lawrence had a special character, two Rune Priests, an Engineer plus a couple of Thanes for 9 available points. That said, this was my first game against the new Dwarf book and my previous tournament record against them was two wins and two losses so it could really go either way with the potential for my units to be shot away before they saw combat.


Thane
- General

Thane
- Battle Standard Bearer

Grim Burlockson

Rune Priest
- Destroy Spell Rune

Rune Priest
- Dispel Rune

Master Engineer

27 Quarrellers
- Full Command
- Great Weapons

20 Warriors
- Full Command
- Shields

25 Miners
- Full Command
- Steam Drill

Gyrocoptor

Gyrocoptor

Grudge Thrower

Cannon

Organ Gun
- +1 Strength Rune

Organ Gun
- +2 To Hit Rune


Spells

Archmage (High Magic)
- Walk Between Worlds
- Tempest
- Arcane Unforging
- Fiery Convocation

Archmage (Lore of Light)
- Pha's Protection
- Light of Battle
- Banishment
- Birona's Timewarp

Image

Obviously, with the scenario deployment rules, you couldn't guarantee to have your units where you'd want them for best effect. After rolling off I ended up with a unit of Reavers and a Bolt Thrower in the left zone, another unit of Reavers and Bolt Thrower, joined by the Lion Chariot, in the right zone, and everything else in the central zone.

Overall I wasn't too displeased with where my units ended up, although I feel I made a bit of a mistake with the positioning of the Reavers in the right zone as ideally I could have used them to shield the unit of Swordmasters I ended up deploying near them.

I made use of my Vanguard moves to move up all three units of Reavers, although the most central unit didn't go too far as I was planning to move the left Swordmasters up behind them.
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Cerebros
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Posts: 128
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 7:56 pm
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Winning first turn I pushed the Reavers on both flanks up as far as I could so they'd be in charge range of the nearest war machines in turn two, if they were still alive. With a wood in the way the crew of the Bolt Thrower on the left started lugging their machine forwards to get into a better firing position while the nearby Eagle flew up behind the wood. It's compatriot on the right flew up behind the hill.

In the centre the Reavers stayed in place but the Swordmasters moved up behind them, using their mounted brethren as a shield. The other Swordmasters moved up with the Lion Chariot not far behind.

Magic kicked off with a ten dice phase for me. My first spell, a two dice Pha's cast at the Swordmasters on the right was dispelled using two of the Dwarf dispel dice. Next, a five dice Tempest cast at the Quarrellers got past the Dwarf dispel attempt, causing five wounds and four dead crossbow Dwarfs in total. Finally, an attempt to cast Banishment at the Organ Gun in the middle of Lawrence's units drew out a dispel rune.

The shooting phase turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, with only the Reavers on the left having any success as they shot down one of the crew of the cannon they were advancing on. Elsewhere there was an endless sound of elven arrows pinging off dwarven armour as I managed a total of two wounds from my other 35 shots that turn, and both of those were saved.

Unsurprisingly, the Dwarf movement phase was short on movement, with the Warrior block making a small move forwards while the Gyrocopters moved out to harass the Ellyrian Reavers on the right. That harassment ended with three Reavers dead to two steam cannon shots. The cannon targeted the Swordmasters on the right but only hit and killed one. The rest of the shooting targeted the Swordmasters on the right, reducing them to a bloody mess and leaving only the Light wizard standing once the smoke had cleared.

Seeing his colleague in mortal peril, the High Magic Archmage ordered his unit of Archers forward so that the Light wizard could flee to safety within them. The Lion Chariot carried on moving forwards while the Eagle on the right moved back a bit. The central Reaver unit moved up with the Swordmasters hot on their heels and the Eagle on the left moved into the flank of the Dwarf lines. The other two units of Reavers had both successfully charged the nearest Dwarf war machines.

With only a five dice phase, and with the Rune Priests managing to channel a dispel die, I was somewhat annoyed not to meet the casting value for the Arcane Unforging the High wizard cast at the Dwarf BSB. This meant it was child's play for the Rune Priests to dispel the next spell, a Pha's cast on the Archers.

Having moved forward for a better firing position the previous turn, the Bolt Thrower crew on the left didn’t take advantage, failing to hit the Warriors.

Into the combat phase and the Reavers on the left made short work of the remaining cannon crew and reformed to face towards the flanks of the Dwarf lines. Over on the right the two Reavers fighting the Organ Gun crew killed two for no loss, although being close their characters the cannon crew were hanging around for another turn of combat..

The Dwarfs were surprisingly less mobile in their second turn as the Warrior block stayed put while the Gyrocopters moved to the rear of the Dwarf line. The Quarrellers took aim at the Lion Chariot and stuck enough bolts into it to jam the wheels and cause it to tip over, killing the crew. The sole Organ Gun able to fire took aim at the unit of Archers containing my characters and from 14 shots did eight hits and eight wounds. All of which were warded by the Banner of the World Dragon. The Grudge Thrower fired an indirect shot at the Swordmasters but it scattered harmlessly off target.

In combat the Reavers killed another member of the Organ Gun crew but the surviving member hung on, determined to protect his machine.

Turn three saw a lot of movement from my forces. Determined to have some impact on the battle the Bolt Thrower crew on the left moved their machine forward once again. The Reavers who had eliminated the cannon marched on towards the Dwarf lines while the Eagle on the right moved into charge range of the Quarrellers.

In the centre of the battlefield, the Reavers with their Swordmaster shadows moved up aggressively while the other Eagle bravely placed itself in front of the Warrior block to prevent them charging the Reavers. Finally, the smaller unit of Archers moved forwards a little to give them better line of sight and range to potential targets.

For the second turn in a row my first spellcasting attempt, this time a three dice Banishment targeting the Organ Gun, failed to meet the casting value. It was doubly annoying since the casting wizard had the Book of Hoeth but still couldn't make the casting value following the re-roll. The follow-up spell was a Fiery Convocation on the Quarrellers which drew out the Destroy Spell rune, although the spell survived the Rune Priest's attempt to remove it from the mind of the Archmage. The High Magic Archmage then tried to cast Walk Between Worlds to give the unit a Ward Save against any shooting in the next turn by the spell failed.

Shooting was more successful this turn as the unengaged Organ Gun was shot off. The small unit of Archers managed to knock one of the Quarrellers off the hill as well. In the combat phase the last Reavers finally killed off the Organ Gun crew.

The Dwarfs had their first charge of the game with the Warriors charging the blocking Eagle. Elsewhere, one of the Gyrocopters moved up in order to use its breath weapon on the nearby Reavers while the other one moved up to target the remaining Swordmaster unit. The Miners came on this turn (after Lawrence had forgotten to bring them on the previous turn and almost forgot this time round until I realised and reminded him).

There was some shooting pain for me this turn as the Quarrellers killed six Archers from the large unit, the Gyrocopter killed off the Reavers who had killed the Organ Gun while the other Gyrocopter killed a Swordmaster. Combat saw the Eagle do a wound to the Rune Priest in the Warriors before being cut down.

On to my turn four and it was charge time. The Reavers who'd been shielding the Swordmasters charged the Quarreller block, taking four casualties from the inevitable Stand and Shoot reaction, and the survivor was joined by the last Eagle. The Swordmasters charged the Warriors who were joined in this activity by the Ellyrian Reavers, who'd redirected after the Gyrocopter they charged had fled. My other movement saw the large Archer block move up out of charge range of the Miners while the other Archer block swift-reformed to shoot at the Miners.

In the magic phase I rolled double-six and was determined to eek out as many spells as I could. I started with Pha's on the large Archers that Lawrence attempted to stop but failed to. Some magic missiles destroyed the fleeing Gyrocopter while the Light mage successfully case Birona's Timewarp on the Swordmasters. Finally the High mage cast Tempest at the Grudge Thrower but this failed to cast.

I wasn't expecting much from the shooting phase so I was pleasantly surprised when the combined shooting of the Bolt Throwers and the small Archer unit did enough wounds to the Miners to cause them to panic. In the first combat resolved the Swordmasters and Reavers only did eight wounds to the Warriors but did kill off the Rune Priest and unit champion. Fortunately my units only took two wounds in reply. The other combat saw a wound on the Rune Priest in the Quarrellers as the Reaver and Great Eagle were cut down.

In reply the Quarrellers declared a charge on the Archer block hosting my characters who decided not to risk being on the receiving end of a double-six charge and fled. The Quarrellers redirected into the flank of the Swordmasters.

The Grudge Thrower failed to inflict any damage on the large Archer unit and so it was on to combat. The combined attacks of the Swordmasters and Ellyrian Reavers scored 11 wounds, including one on the Rune Priest in the Quarrellers. Taking only five wounds back overall after other combat bonuses I won by four. The Reavers, who'd dropped out of combat due to the shrinking Warrior unit ran them down as they fled while the Quarrellers held.

At that point the round ended. on the primary objectives I'd scored a clear win, having lost none of my characters and killed the two Rune Priests in Lawrence's army. I also managed to rack up two points for secondary objectives as well, having scored more victory points. When it came to the tertiary objectives we'd both scored one apiece from the terrain we held so the overall result was 18-6 to me.

Overall it was a good start to the event, helped in no small part by me actually remembering to play to the scenario. That said, if Lawrence hadn't wiped out the unit of Swordmasters in his first turn things could have turned out differently as I'd have potentially ended up with a Lord worth two scenario points going into combat with one of his units and probably getting killed. I think I was just fortunate to get away with the mistake of not deploying the unit of Ellyrian Reavers that had to go in the right hand deployment zone right up on the boundary of the central zone so I could use their Vanguard move to get in front of the Swordmasters and shield them a bit.
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Cerebros
Dark Rider
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 7:56 pm
Location: Leicester, England
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Game 2 - Mike Ralph - Dark Elves
Scenario "Seize Ground".

The Battleline deployment rules were in effect for this scenario but victory was going to be determined by whoever had the most fortitude in their opponent's deployment zone. In theory that gave me an advantage, having more fortitude and three points of it in fast units, but I was looking across the table at four bolt throwers that I was expecting to make things rather difficult. This was also my first game against the 8th edition Dark Elves, so I was fully expecting to feel the pain from the unit of Doomfire Warlocks sitting across the table from me.


Dreadlord
- General
- Heavy Armour
- Sea Dragon Cloak
- Shield

Supreme Sorceress
- Level 4 (Lore of Shadow)
- Dark Steed

Master
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Heavy Armour
- Shield

20 Darkshards
- Full Command

10 Witch Elves
- Champion
- Musician

5 Dark Riders
- Champion
- Musician
- Repeater Crossbows
- Shields

5 Dark Riders
- Champion
- Musician
- Repeater Crossbows
- Shields

28 Har Ganeth Executioners
- Full Command

6 Cold One Knights
- Standard

Reaper Bolt Thrower

Reaper Bolt Thrower

Reaper Bolt Thrower

Reaper Bolt Thrower

10 Doomfire Warlocks
- Champion


Spells

Archmage (High Magic)
- Hand of Glory
- Walk Between Worlds
- Arcane Unforging
- Fiery Convocation

Archmage (Lore of Light)
- Pha's Protection
- Speed of Light
- Banishment
- Birona's Timewarp

Supreme Sorceress (Lore of Shadow)
- Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma
- Enfeebling Foe
- Penumbral Pendulum
- Okkam's Mindrazor

I was pretty happy with my spell selection after all duplicate rolls were accounted for and to be honest I was fairly happy with the spells Mike picked, since I don't really need to worry that much about Pendulum and Mindrazor that left me with just two spells I needed to worry about from the Supreme Sorceress and then the two that the Warlocks can cast.

Image

With the primary objective revolving around having the most Fortitude in the opponent's deployment zone I decided to stack one flack as much as possible and try and push through Mike's units, taking advantage of my superior amount of Fortitude. Therefore I had a single unit of Reavers on the left, deployed as part of my token distraction force on that side. All my other units were arrayed across the right hand side of my deployment zone, starting with the large unit of Archers, a unit of Reavers with a Bolt Thrower and Eagle behind them, the larger Swordmaster unit with my General and BSB in, and then a Lion Chariot slightly behind to the right and the other Bolt Thrower further behind to the right. Between the right table edge and Mike's special piece of terrain (one of the Storm of Magic fulcrums) were the last unit of Reavers in front, the other Archers and the other Swordmasters side by side (foolishly I forgot to deploy the Archers narrower so ended up having to do so with the Swordmaster) and finally the last Eagle at the back.

Mike's deployment pretty much mirrored mine, with the bulk of his army in the right side of his deployment zone as I looked at the table. The exceptions were two of his Bolt Throwers on the hill on the left and the other two behind the wall in the centre of the table.

Kicking off the Vanguard moves I took the Reavers on the left and moved them backwards onto the hill in my deployment zone, the unit in the right of middle area went more centrally and the Reavers on the right moved forwards and to the left a bit. For his part, Mike moved his Dark Riders on the left up while the Dark Riders and Warlocks on the right shuffled forward only a little.
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Cerebros
Dark Rider
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 7:56 pm
Location: Leicester, England
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Winning the first turn Mike push up aggressively with the Executioners with the Witch Elves just behind and to the right of them and the Cold One Knights behind top the left. The Dark Riders on the left also motored forwards. On the right the Darkshards moved into the tower but the Warlocks and Dark Riders on the right stayed put.

With only a three dice magic phase the Warlocks were to take first blood in the game as they managed to get Doombolt off on the Reavers opposite them, scoring eight hits and six wounds to wipe the unit out. On the left the Dark Riders and one of the Reaper Bolt Throwers combined to eliminate the Reavers on the left and the other Reapers destroyed the unit in the centre. Ouch. The last shooting of the phase saw the Darkshards shoot down a single Swordmaster.

Starting my first turn I immediately felt on the back foot, having seen my fortitude advantage nearly all wiped out as well losing three potential redirecting units. Therefore my movement was more cautious than I'd planned with only the Swordmasters on the right pushing terribly far forwards. The other Hoeth unit wheeled to the left slightly to better face off against the Executioners while the Lion Chariot moved up alongside them.

My first spell of the game was a miscast as the Light Archmage cast Banishment at the Doomfire Warlocks. The wizard successfully killed three but the miscast killed 11 Swordmasters and took my remaining Power Dice. In my shooting phase the smaller Archers and a Bolt Thrower managed to kill another Warlock between them while the other Bolt Thrower and the large unit of Archers shot down five Executioners.

Mike's second movement phase saw the Warlocks charge the remnants of the right Swordmaster unit, looking to exact vengeance for their lost brethren. The rest of his army barring the Dark Riders on the right also moved up aggressively, somewhat too aggressively for the Cold One Knights who lost two of their number to Dangerous Terrain by marching through the wood in the centre of the table. The 'Shards also moved out of the tower.

The magic phase was pretty even again and the Warlocks tried to cast Soulblight at the Swordmasters they were fighting but failed to get the spell off. The Sorceress tried to cast a boosted Miasma on the Swordmasters but this was dispelled. Shooting was, thankfully, less devastating for me this time around, although I still saw two wounds shot off the Eagle on the left and losses in both Archer units.

In the only combat the Warlocks did ten wounds to the Swordmasters, including two to the Light Archmage, taking just three in reply. The surviving Swordmaster and wizard fled and managed to outpace the Warlocks. Somewhat more surprisingly they also managed to rally the following turn. By this time the Lion Chariot had charged the Witch Elves which was the only other movement that turn for me.

I had a three dice magic phase which I used to cast a boosted Hand of Glory on the General's Swordmasters, boosting the four affected stats by one. All my shooting bar the Archers on the right targeted the Executioners but could only kill four. The smaller Archer unit shot at the Darkshards, killing two.

The Lion Chariot smashed through the Witch Elves, overrunning into the Darkshards but not before it had taken two wounds from the worshipers of Khaine.

Turn three saw a lot of charges with the Warlocks charging the depleted Swordmasters to finish them off, the Dark Riders on the right went into the flank of the Lion Chariot, the other Dark Riders into the leftmost Eagle and finally, the Executioners charged the large unit of Archers who stood and shot, killing two.

The Warlocks attempted to cast Soulblight on the Lion Chariot but this was dispelled while the Sorceress tried to cast Mindrazor on the Darkshards but failed to meet the casting value. This time around the Dark Elf shooting was ineffective as the Swordmasters deflected the two Reaper bolts that headed their way. The other Swordmasters (well, Swordmaster at this stage) and the Light wizard were cut down by the Warlocks, as was the Great Eagle by the Dark Riders on the left, who overran into the nearest Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower. Slowed by their great weapons, the Executioners took a wound from my Archers before finishing them off and reforming to face towards my remaining Swordmasters. Finally, the Lion Chariot actually won its combat against the combined forces of the Darkshard and Dark Riders, causing six wounds and taking only one in reply.

My turn three and I charged the last Swordmaster unit into the Executioners while the last Eagle moved up to potentially threaten the Darkshards/Dark Riders/Lion Chariot combat. An eight dice magic phase saw me cast Walk Between Worlds on the unengaged Bolt Thrower in order to gain the Ward Save from the Lore Attribute before I cast a boosted Hand of Glory on the Swordmasters, giving them +3 to the affected stats.

Shooting saw the remaining Archers shoot down two Warlocks, causing the last one to flee off the board. My only unengaged Bolt Thrower tried some counter-fire at one of Mike's Bolt Throwers but failed to hit. In combat the Lion Chariot's luck ran out as it was killed before the crew or beasts had chance to strike and the Dark Riders killed the Bolt Thrower crew. The big dust-off between the Swordmasters and the Executioners started with the Dreadlord only managing to do one wound to the Swordmasters before they did sixteen wounds back, leaving just the BSB, Dreadlord and unit champion, although not for long as the BSB was cut down as the unit fled - unfortunately not caught by the pursuing Swordmasters. Seeing their general flee also caused panic in the Cold One Knights (I've only just remembered now as I write this that they wouldn't test as the Cold Ones are Stupid) and Dark Riders.

At this point I remembered the scenario and noticed that I still had a route to victory available to me. In Mike’s movement phase the Dreadlord and Executioner champion rallied but all I was concerned about was the unit of Dark Riders within my deployment zone that I thought could potentially block my Swordmasters from heading in the right direction. Probably because we were hurrying as we'd just had the fifteen minutes to go call, I completely forgot that the Dark Riders had panicked the previous turn and couldn't march and so I spent a couple of minutes nervously hoping they wouldn't move and block off my Swordmasters.

The Dark Riders did rally, as did the Dreadlord and surviving Executioner while the Darkshards marched into the wood to line up a move into my deployment zone if we had the time for a fifth turn. In the Magic phase the Supreme Sorceress tried to Miasma the Swordmasters but I scrolled this. The Reaper Bolt Throwers all shot at the Swordmasters but thanks to various shooting penalties and a 4+ Deflect Shots save due to my General having cast two High Magic spells. The other shooting targeted the last Bolt Thrower but didn't kill it.

My turn four and there was only one thing I was doing in my movement phase - making use of the extra 3" Movement from the Hand of Glory on the Swordmasters to make a 16" march move towards Mike's deployment zone. I was then relying on getting enough dice in the magic phase to cast a boosted Walk Between Worlds on the unit march them into Mike's deployment zone, which I duly did, securing the primary scenario.

The last action of the game was the surviving Bolt Thrower shooting at the Dreadlord and Executioner champion to try and finish them off but to no avail.

With no time to play turn five it was time to tot up the scores. I'd got 15 points for the primary scenario and my Walk Between Worlds move had left the Swordmasters as the closest unit with fortitude to the walls so I managed to claim that for a total of 16. Mike picked up five points for the loss plus another four for scoring more victory points and for scoring double the amount of victory points than I did. He also managed a tertiary point for the Darkshards in the wood.

So far then I was two for two. I can't really claim any tactical genius for this result, it's purely down to that last turn move that I only spotted after the end of the combat between the Swordmasters and Executioners that saw the Executioners flee. Had I spotted the move slightly earlier I would probably have combat reformed to face Mike's deployment zone rather than attempting to pursue.

Of course, had either of us remembered that the Cold One Knights didn't need a panic test that might have turned the course of the game. Pursuing the fleeing Executioners, I'd have exposed the flank of the Swordmasters to the Knights, reforming I'd have exposed the rear. While I'd probably fancy the chances of the Swordmasters winning the combat against the Knights if they'd charged in the rear, just through the number of attacks I'd be making, I could easily have seen that combat ending up as a draw or a win by a point of combat res to the Dark Elves, which would have held the Swordmasters in place. Likewise, a flank charge would more likely have held me in place, but there's also a good chance that the Cold One Knights might have killed my Archmage, which would have given Mike another couple of secondary scenario points for breaking me.
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Cerebros
Dark Rider
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 7:56 pm
Location: Leicester, England
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Game 3 - Danny Roden - Legions of Chaos
Scenario "Capture the Flags"

Using the Meeting Engagement deployment rules, victory in this scenario would be based on the number of Fortitude points destroyed, meaning that this time my high fortitude count was going to be a hindrance rather than a benefit. It didn't help that I was playing against Warriors of Chaos (well, technically Legions of Chaos but the only non-Warriors units in the army were two Skull Cannons of Khorne), an army that I've generally struggled against in a tournament setting (and haven't done much better outside of tournaments).


Daemon Prince
- Mark of Nurgle
- Level 4 (Lore of Death)
- Soul Feeder
- Charmed Shield
- Scaled Skin
- Flaming Breath

Exalted Hero
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Daemonic Mount
- Great Weapon

Throgg

5 Chaos Warhounds
- Vanguard

5 Chaos Warhounds
- Vanguard

11 Chaos Trolls
- Additional Hand Weapons

5 Marauder Horsemen
- Mark of Nurgle
- Standard Bearer
- Musician
- Flails

Chimera
- Flaming Breath
- Regenerating Flesh

3 Skullcrushers
- Standard Bearer
- Musician
- Ensorcelled Weapons

Skull Cannon of Khorne

Skull Cannon of Khorne


Spells

Archmage (High Magic)
- Drain Magic
- Hand of Glory
- Arcane Unforging
- Fiery Convocation

Archmage (Lore of Light)
- Pha's Protection
- Speed of Light
- Light of Battle
- Banishment

Daemon Prince (Lore of Shadow)
- Spirit Leech
- Soul Blight
- Doom and Darkness
- Caress of Laniph


Danny "won" the roll to deploy first and after rolling off to see which units failed to turn up he was without the Chimera, Trolls, a Skull Cannon and a unit of Warhounds. For my part I got off luckily with just one Eagle failing to turn up.

Image

Danny deployed his units pretty much along the deployment line with the Marauder Horse on the left next to the wall, the Exalted Hero on the left of the tower and the Skullcrushers to its right. Next up was a unit of Warhounds and behind and to the right of them was the Daemon Prince. The Skull Cannon that was able to deploy was a bit further back and to the right of the Skullcrushers.

Overall I deployed a little way back from the deployment line with a unit of Reavers on the left on the hill and one to the left of it, and the smaller Archer unit nearby. Next up were one of the Bolt Throwers and one of the Great Eagles. In front of the wood was another unit of Reavers while both units of Swordmasters lined up to the side of the wood, with the Light wizard in one unit and the BSB and High Magic wizard in the other. The Lion Chariot was behind and to the right of the Swordmaster unit containing the General and BSB while the large Archer unit were a few inches from the board edge. The last Bolt Thrower was a few inches behind the Archers, a couple of inches from the right board edge.
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

I didn't manage to steal the initiative so Danny got first turn. The Skullcrushers charged the Reavers in the centre who fled, losing one of their number to a Dangerous Terrain test. The Marauder Horsemen also declared a charge on the closest Reavers who stood and shot, killing two Marauders and causing the unit to panic and flee 12". Not to be outdone, the Daemon Prince also failed a charge on the larger unit of Swordmasters. The only other forward movement of note was the BSB on Daemonic mount moving up to threaten my units on the left.

In the magic phase the Daemon Prince managed to get a Doom and Darkness on the larger Swordmasters past the Light wizard, even with a Book of Hoeth re-roll, and then cast Caress of Laniph at the Light wizard which I decided to use my scroll on. In shooting one Skull Cannon took aim towards my BSB but the bounce fell short and was followed by a misfire while the other Skull Cannon's shot was equally ineffective.

Movement in my first turn was pretty minimal with just the fleeing Reavers rallying, one of the units on the left moving right up behind the fleeing Marauder Horsemen and an Eagle moving next tp the wall. A small-ish magic phase saw me try and cast Banishment on the Daemon Prince, which was dispelled, following by Drain Magic on the General's Swordmasters to remove the Doom and Darkness.

In shooting I completely forgot the golden rule of shooting lone characters with your least effective shooting first and targeted the Daemon Prince with the Bolt Throwers. The first one managed to miss in any case but the hit of the second one was deflected by a Charmed Shield and the large Archer unit that targeted the Prince next managed only four hits and no wounds. One unit of Reavers and the other Archers targeted the Exalted BSB but were equally ineffective, while the Reavers near the Marauders killed another two.

The second Warriors turn saw more charges with the BSB charging the small unit of Archers who stood and shot but failed to do any wounds. The Daemon Prince charged the large Swordmasters while the Chimera tried to get in on the flank to support the Prince but failed its charge. The battered Marauder Horsemen failed to rally and fled a further 10".

Magic saw Daemon Prince cast Curse of Laniph on the Lion Chariot which I decided to risk letting go, which saw the chariot lose a wound and the Prince gain back power die. Doom and Darkness on the Swordmasters was stopped and I also managed to stop a Spirit Leech cast on the Lion chariot. In shooting both Skull Cannon targeted Bolt Throwers but either miscast or the shots fell short.

Combat saw the Daemon Prince challenge. Believing that all its attacks, including stomps, were magical, I declined, relying on the Banner of the World Dragon to protect me. Danny told me that the Warriors Prince was different to the Daemons' Daemon Prince in that regard and as he was the Warriors player I took him at his word on this (but of course, on checking this with my copy of the Warriors book while writing this report I found I was right in the first place). The net result was that with the BSB sent to the back the Daemon Prince went on to do six wounds, including one to my General, mostly from Stomps and his Flaming Breath (which I also believe would count as a Magical Attack due to the Daemonic Attacks rule). When the dust settled the Swordmasters had lost combat but they held.

In the other combat the Exalted Hero did two wounds to the Archers who held.

I declared a charge with a unit of Reavers at the Chaos Warhounds on the left, who fled through the tower. The unengaged Swordmasters charged the unit of Warhounds in front of them. The Lion Chariot made a bit of a strategic withdrawal while the Eagles both prepared to lay down their lives to redirect or block charges.

In Magic I got a Hand of Glory off on the large Swordmaster block and an Irresistible Fiery Convocation on the Trolls, doing five wounds to them. The Miscast result put a wound on the Daemon Prince, a wound on the nearby Great Eagle, 1 dead Swordmaster, and one Archmage down a hole.

Starved of targets the Bolt Thrower on the left targeted the Skullcrushers, hitting but failing to wound, a feat matched by the nearest Ellyrian Reavers. On the other side of the table the Archers and Bolt Thrower between them managed to put a single wound on the Chimera.

The Swordmasters with the Banner of Eternal Flame breezed through the Warhounds and overran, although only an average distance, not far enough to reach the Trolls. A pile of broken bodies were all that was left of the small Archer unit as the Exalted Hero finished them off and the Swordmasters took another four wounds from the Daemon Prince.

With a bloodcurdling roar the Skullcrushers charged into the Great Eagle blocking their path and the Chimera charged the Archers who had no real choice but to hold. The Marauder Horsemen fled off the board while Throgg marched out of the Trolls into the right flank of the unengaged Swordmasters.

Keen to last another round against the Swordmasters the Daemon Prince tried to cast Soulblight on the unit but this was dispelled. The Prince then cast Spirit Leech at the Great Eagle but lost the roll off. Throgg's breath weapon hit all the Swordmasters and killed 18 while the Skull Cannon on the left shot off the Bolt Thrower it could see.

Unsurprisingly there was nothing but a rain of feathers, gradually settling on the grand, left of the Great Eagle after the Skullcrushers had done with it and the unit overran 5". The Chimera took a rank off the archers who managed to hold while the Swordmasters lost another four of their number to the Daemon Prince.

Onto my turn three and the Lion Chariot charged in to Throgg while the last Eagle charged the Warhounds, who fled, and then redirected into the flank of the Chimera to try and help out the Archers. The last Archmage marched out of the Swordmasters to get line of sight on the Warhound, eager to exact an iota of revenge on the Chaos forces, which he duly did in the magic phase by casting Banishment on the Warhounds, wiping them out.

Shooting saw the last units of Reavers shoot at the Exalted BSB and doing two wounds, one of which was armour saved, the other being Ward Saved. Into combat and my units failed to do anything to the Chimera which broke and ran down the Archers while the Eagle limped away. The Lion Chariot and Throgg did three wounds apiece but Throgg's last wound to the chariot destroyed it. Finally, the Daemon Prince did another five wounds to the Swordmasters and took two back but broke them and ran them down.

At that point time was called and I'm sure you can guess from the details of the report that I lost this one. Even without the issue around the Daemon Prince's Daemonic Attacks, I'd still have lost on the primary and would also have given up two of the secondary objectives (rather than the three I ended up doing). The only points I did get for doing more than just turn up were two tertiary objective points.
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Game 4 - Mike Pritchard – Bretonnia
Scenario "Watchtower"

The first game on the Sunday was Watchtower against Bretonnia. Mike was the first opponent this tournament I had previously heard of, having been mentioned by one of the Black Sun guys in one of their tournament reports, if I remember correctly. Having heard of my opponent in advance is usually an indication that I'm probably onto a loss in the forthcoming game (more than arriving at the table is) and the “ETC Wales” team member shirt Mike was wearing didn't do much to suggest I should expect a different outcome this time round. The final pillar supporting the monument of despair I was facing was that I had a grand total of two previous games experience against Bretonnia from which about the only useful tactical knowledge I'd picked up was to try and avoid fighting the characters if at all possible, something that was going to be a bit tricky considering the purpose of the scenario is to capture the tower that's in the middle of the board.


Bretonnian Lord
- Barded Warhorse
- Sword of Might
- Shield

Prophetess of the Lady
- Level 4 (Lore of Heavens)
- Silver Mirror
- Warhorse

Paladin
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Barded Warhorse
- Lance
- Shield
- Dawn Stone

Paladin
- Barded Warhorse
- Lance
- Shield

Paladin
- Barded Warhorse
- Morning Star
- Shield

Damsel of the Lady
- Level 2 (Lore of Life)
- Warhorse

14 Knights of the Realm
- Full Command

13 Knights Errant
- Full Command

5 Knights Errant
- Champion
- Musician

5 Knights Errant
- Champion
- Musician

5 Knights Errant
- Champion
- Musician

3 Pegasus Knights
- Champion
- Musician

Trebuchet

Trebuchet


Spells

Archmage (High Magic)
- Drain Magic
- Hand of Glory
- Walk Between Worlds
- Arcane Unforging

Archmage (Lore of Light)
- Shem's Burning Gaze
- Pha's Protection
- Light of Battle
- Birona's Timewarp

Prophetess of the Lady (Lore of Heavens)
- Iceshard Blizzard
- Curse of the Midnight Wind
- Chain Lightning
- Comet of Cassandora

Damsel of the Lady (Lore of Life)
- Earthblood
- Flesh to Stone


One of the issues I always have when considering Watchtower is whether to put a unit in it if I have the option. Although Mike won the roll to deploy first, as he didn't have any units capable of occupying the tower it was my choice as to whether to put a unit in it or not. I decided to deploy the small Archer unit in it with the hope of perhaps being able to snipe some Trebuchet crew to reduce the rate of fire coming at me.

Image

As for the regular deployment, Mike had a small unit of Knights Errant on the hill on the left, the Realm bus just inside the wood in the centre of his deployment zone and another small Errant unit to their left, the Errant bus to the right of the wood, and the last small Errant unit a few inches to their right. Just to the side of the Errants were the Pegasus Knights, one Trebuchet behind those Errants and the last Trebuchet behind the wood. The Bretonnian Lord, BSB, Prophetess and a Paladin went in the Knight of the Realm bus while the Damsel and remaining Paladin went in the Errant bus.

On my side of the table I had Reavers on the left with an Eagle behind, the Lion Chariot and another unit of Reavers, with a Bolt Thrower behind on the hill. The Swordmaster blocks were side by side with the larger unit to the left with both the Archmages and BSB. The second Eagle was behind and to the right of the second Swordmaster unit with the second Bolt Thrower next to it. The large unit of Archers were in the wood and finally the last Reaver unit between the wood and the table edge.

With the Vanguard moves Mike moved the Pegasus Knights up slightly while I moved up both units of Reavers on the left.
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

As the Brets understandably prayed, I had the first turn and decided to move my main combat units up aggressively towards the Watchtower, with both Eagles also moving up. With an 11 dice magic phase the first spell cast was Arcane Unforging at the Bretonnian BSB, putting a wound on him and destroying his Dawnstone. As the spell was cast irresistibly I had to roll for the result and ended up with a six. No wounds were caused but I did lose five power dice. Somewhat surprisingly that didn't stop the Light wizard casting a boosted Shem's Burning Gaze at the Trebuchet he could see and getting it through on a 16 against a six dice dispel of 14. From the four hits rolled it managed to do one wound to the war machine.

Shooting was busy with the Reaver units on the left shooting at thee small Errant units closest to them. The unit on the left managed to kill one knight while the middle unit was less successful. In the Watchtower the Archers shot at the wounded Trebuchet but could do no wounds, the last unit of Reavers and the Bolt Throwers targeted the Pegasus Knights, managing to cause a total of one wound. (I may have shot the large Archer unit at them as well but I don't seem to have noted down the result).

Bretonnia turn one and the Lord called a charge with the Errant bus and the Errant unit next to the Realm bus charging the large Swordmaster unit, the Pegasus Knights charging the Reavers on the right, the left unit of Errants charging the left unit of Reavers, who fled, then redirecting at the central Reaver unit. Finally the Realm bus charged the Archers in the tower who stood and shot, causing the Knights to make three armour saves. As the Knights pulled up their horses at the tower the Lord looked back to congratulate his men only to notice one hanging by upside down from a tree in the wood the unit had just charged through. The last movement was the Errant unit on the right marching forwards towards the Archers in the wood.

The Damsel attempted to cast Flesh to Stone on the Errant bus but I felt I couldn't risk that going off and scrolled it and I then dispelled the Prophetess' attempt to case Iceshard Blizzard on the Swordmasters. She was able to cast Chain Lightning, putting a wound on the Lion Chariot and two on the Ellyrian Reavers. Both Trebuchets targeted the smaller Swordmaster unit, the first doing 12 wounds while the second misfired with a result of a three.

Combat started with the Reavers fighting the Pegasus Knights and actually managing to do two wounds to the Pegasus Knights who only managed to win the combat due to having a musician. The Reavers fled off the table with the Knights in pursuit. Leading from the front the Bretonnian Lord and his unit did eight wounds to the Archers in the Watchtower but was not able to shift the unit. Finally in the combat with the two Errant units and my Swordmasters, the Knights could only do two wounds but only took one back and managed to break the Swordmasters, killing my BSB. Both units pursued but couldn't catch the Swordmasters but had the consolation of overrunning into the Lion Chariot and a Great Eagle.

As the second turn started I was not looking forward to whatever time was left in the game. With my BSB gone and my general fleeing, I was struggling to see how I was going to turn things around, especially if the Swordmasters failed to rally. In a vain effort to try and score some tertiary objectives I was going to have to try and take out some of Mike's unit and so I charged the unengaged Eagle into the flank of the small Errant unit and the depleted Swordmasters into the flank of the Errant bus. Fortunately the fleeing Swordmasters rallied.

After rolling up ten dice for the Winds of Magic I channelled another two. I started the phase trying to cast a three dice Hand of Glory which was scrolled. I then tried to cast Arcane Unforging on the Bretonnian BSB but the Prophetess used the Silver Mirror to stop it and also caused a wound to my general in the process. Next up the Light wizard cast a boosted Pha's Protection which went off as Mike saved his dispel dice to stop Birona's Timewarp being cast on the Swordmasters in the flank of the Errant bus.

In the shooting phase the large unit of Archers shot at the Knights Errant menacing them and managed to kill one. The Bolt Thrower on the right shot at the Pegasus Knights, killing one, a feat it's equivalent on the hill failed to achieve by not even hitting. The remaining Reavers shot at the Knights Errant on the hill, killing one.

The combat between the Lion Chariot and Great Eagle saw the Knights win by a musician. The Eagle fled but the chariot stuck around to fight another day. The Swordmasters and Eagle did better, killing four Knights Errant, although the Knights held.

Bretonnia turn two and the Knights Errant on the right charged the large unit of Archers who stood and shot but couldn't get past the armour and ward saves. The other small Knights Errant unit charged the fleeing Great Eagle, causing it to flee 12" towards my back board edge. Elsewhere, the Realm bus ignored the Archers in the tower and instead moved round the left side of the tower and the surviving Pegasus Knight moved up to threaten the Bolt Thrower on the right.

With power and dispel dice even, the Magic phase saw the Prophetess try to cast Iceshard Blizzard on the Swordmasters fighting the Errant bus, which was dispelled, while the Damsel tried to cast Flesh to Stone on the same unit, which failed to cast. In the shooting phase the only Trebuchet that could fire shot at the Swordmasters on the hill and killed three.

On the right flank the small unit of Knights Errant failed to cause a single wound on the Archers, who, somewhat surprisingly, did a wound to the Knights. This wound, combined with the static combat resolution of two ranks and a standard, meant the Knights lost combat and fled, with the Archers in pursuit. Next up the Swordmasters and Great Eagle did four wounds so the Errant bus, although the Eagle was killed by the Knights who held thanks to being Steadfast. Finally, the other small Errant unit destroyed the Lion Chariot.

As my general's Swordmaster unit had rallied in my previous turn, I charged them into the small unit of Errant knights that had recently vanquished the Lion Chariot. The Ellyrian Reaver unit on the left charged into the exposed flank of the Knights Errant who had failed their charged the previous turn and the Archers who had seen off the other small Errant unit declared a charge on their fleeing foes, forcing the unit to flee another five inches, although the Archers failed to catch them. In other movement the fleeing Eagle rallied and the solo Reaver moved up to block any charge by the Realm unit into the exposed parts of the front of the large Swordmaster unit.

This turn the Light Wizard got Timewarp through on the Swordmasters as Mike saved his dispel dice, choosing to use the first of them to stop Arcane Unforging on the BSB. The Light wizard then tried to cast Pha's Protection on a single die on the Swordmasters which Mike dispelled with his last dice and then the General cast Hand of Glory on the Swordmasters fighting the Errant bus to give them an extra point of initiative.

With the last Pegasus Knight bearing down on the Bolt Thrower on the right, both Bolt Throwers attempted to shoot the Knight out of the air but despite one hit they failed to cause a wound.

The Swordmasters made the most of their boosted Initiative to cut down the Paladin in the Errant bus and they did enough to break and run down the Knights. Annoyingly the Reavers on the left failed to break the Errant unit despite the static resolution being the only scores on the doors at the end of the combat. The Errants then also managed to combat reform so the units were face to face. Finally, the Swordmasters failed to do any wounds to the Knights Errant they were fighting and took one back and so only won the combat by two, which saw the Errants, in range of the General and BSB, pass their break test.

Mike's third turn saw the expected charges of the Pegasus Knight and the Knights of the Realm into my nearest units. The fleeing Errant Knights rallied. The Prophetess hogged the power dice this turn, attempting to cast Iceshard Blizzard on the large Swordmaster, which was dispelled, and then casting Comet of Cassandora irresistibly. The marker went down in the space between my units and the Watchtower. The miscast result was a 10, which basically had no effect on the game.

Both Trebuchets were free to fire this turn but the results were a misfire and a scatter onto a Knight of the Realm, killing him. The Pegasus Knight cut through the Bolt Thrower crew and overran, while the Knights Errant won combat thanks to their musician and broke the Reavers they were fighting, although they failed to catch them. The Swordmasters remembered how to fight this turn and killed three of the Knights Errant they were fighting although they still couldn't break the unit.

Turn four and the only charge this turn was the Archers into the Knights Errant who had rallied last turn. The Reavers managed to rally, the last Eagle flew up to try and block the Realm bus from charging the Watchtower while the last two Archers in the tower (who I believe I forgot to shoot with after the first turn) left the tower the block the Knights also. The reason for this blocking and leaving was because the unengaged Swordmasters had movement ten this turn thanks to the Birona's Timewarp I'd cast on them last turn. With that extra movement I reformed to four wide and after passing their leadership test to make it a Swift Reform, moved them into the Watchtower.

I know there's probably a bunch of people foaming at the mouth with fury at me for doing that, and I must admit it wasn't until after the game that I realised "ugh.. I told myself I wasn't going to do that". However, in my defence, I reformed four wide because that way none of the models should then have moved more than their 10" movement allowance when they went into the building, even counting the reform (although granted at this stage I was hurrying so we would get the full turn in, so my apologies to Mike if he felt that the unit did move more than 10" overall).

Not that the manoeuvre did me much good in the end as in the magic phase the comet came down and wiped out the Eagle, Swordmasters and Archers, as well as taking a few wounds off the Swordmasters fighting the Knight Errant. With the spells I could cast I got a Pha's off on the surviving Swordmasters and tried to cast Timewarp but this was stopped.

For the second time the Archer unit broke the Knights Errant, who ultimately fled off the board while the Archers fruitlessly reformed to face the Watchtower. The Swordmasters finally killed off the Knight Errant but this was too late to do anything more as well.

Bretonnia turn four and the last unit of Errants charged the last Reavers. Somehow the Reavers killed two Knights for one loss in return, only losing the combat due to the musician in the Errants, although they held.

As time was called it was a loss to me as the Realm bus was the closest unit to the Watchtower. It got worse as yet again I'd scored no secondary objectives and also hadn't scored any tertiary objectives, so I had the minimum five points for turning up. Mike got 15 for the win from me plus four points for breaking me and scoring more victory points and also had a terrain piece for a total of 20 points.

Overall I was glad that the game wasn't the complete walkover to Mike it had looked like when the larger unit of Swordmasters broke in turn one but I was still a bit annoyed that some things didn't go my way, like how they took so long to cut through the unit of Knights Errant. In the end though, I think it was my deployment and first turn movement that cost me the game as I shouldn't have put the large unit of Swordmasters in a position where they could be charged by the Errant Knight bus and should have positioned and supported them so they could get into the tower and hopefully fend off any assault of it by the Knight units.
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Game 5 - Steve Wren - High Elves
Scenario "Domination"

Steve needs no introduction to anyone on the UK tournament scene, variously known as one of the best painters around or "the worst Warhammer player in the country" (sometimes by people who end up eating their words). Although I’d never played Steve before we had chatted briefly at a couple of events in the (increasingly dim and distant) past.

Regardless of Steve’s reputation as a player, my history against other High Elf players has been pretty dismal, with a win rate of one in six.

Anointed of Asuryan
- Frostheart Phoenix
- Golden Crown of Atrazar

Archmage
- Level 4 (Lore of Shadow)

Lothern Sea Helm
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Banner of the World Dragon

Noble
- Armour of Destiny (?)
- Shield
- Griffon
- Swooping Strike

10 Lothern Sea Guard
- Full Command
- Shields

10 Lothern Sea Guard
- Full Command
- Shields

10 Lothern Sea Guard
- Full Command
- Shields

6 Silver Helms
- Full Command
- Shields

Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower

Frostheart Phoenix

Frostheart Phoenix


Spells

Archmage (High Magic)
- Soul Quench
- Walk Between Worlds
- Arcane Unforging
- Fiery Convocation

Archmage (Lore of Light)
- Light of Battle
- Net of Amyntok
- Banishment
- Birona's Timewarp

Archmage (Lore of Shadow)
- Mystifying Miasma
- Enfeebling Foe
- Pit of Shades
- Okkam's Mindrazor


Domination was one of the scenarios I won last year so I hoped I knew what I was doing coming into the game. What I was unsure of was how to deal with one phoenix, let alone the three phoenixes across the table from me, having never played against them before (the only time I'd ever seen one in a game was when I proxied one against one of my regular opponents who shot it off the board before it had a chance to do anything).

Scoring for the scenario saw you scoring one point for having the most fortitude in the two halves of your own side of the table and two points for each half of your opponent's side of table in which you have the most fortitude. Again, this was a scenario where I was hoping that my extra Fortitude from the Ellyrian Reavers would give me an edge late game, assuming I hadn't had to throw them away to divert one of Steve's units away.

Image

My plan for this game was essentially the same as for game two - stack one flank with my combat units and try and force my way through, making use of the movement spells at my disposal to claim the table half next to the one I had across from me.

To that end, when deployment had finished, I had both units of Swordmasters on the left, with the unit containing the general and BSB first, then the other unit with the Light mage just inside the wood. Behind them there was a unit of Reavers, an Eagle a bit further behind and to the right and a Bolt Thrower almost on the board edge. The large unit of Archers was behind the wall across the middle of my deployment zone with the second unit of Reavers a couple of inches to their right. Further along was the second unit of Archers, looking to get into the building as soon as they could. On the hill were the second Bolt Thrower and the Lion Chariot with the second Eagle behind and to the left of the hill and the last Reavers behind and to the right.

Steve's deployment was more spread out. On the left the Noble on the Griffon went on the hill with one of the Sea Guard units behind. The second unit of Sea Guard, with the Sea Helm joining them, were behind the tower. Both solo phoenixes were spread across the central third of Steve's deployment zone with his Bolt Thrower mid way between them and on the back board edge. Clustered around the wood on the right were the Anointed on his Phoenix to its left, the last Sea Guard unit behind the wood and the Silver Helms to its right.
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

I won first turn and started by pushing both Swordmaster units up with the nearby Reavers following behind them. The Eagle on the left moved behind the Swordmaster and Reaver grouping. Its compatriot moved behind the Watchtower which the small unit of Archers had just had enough movement to get into. The central Reaver unit moved forward slightly while finally, on the right, the Lion Chariot moved off the hill while the Reavers moved up alongside them.

With a maximum dice magic phase my first spell attempt was a three dice Arcane Unforging at the Noble on the Griffon but the Archmage just failed to cast. The Light wizard now had to take up casting duties and cast a boosted Banishment at the closest Frostheart Phoenix which I believe was scrolled. Net was cast on the Sea Helm's unit of Sea Guard which revealed the presence of the Banner of the World Dragon while a two dice cast of Birona's Timewarp on the Archmage's own unit failed.

My shooting was pretty much ineffective barring a wound that I managed to chip off from the Phoenix on the left.

In Steve's first turn all three phoenixes moved up aggressively into my half of the table, looking to threaten my bolt throwers, the Archers in the middle and the Chariot and Reavers on the right. The Silver Helms moved forwards a little while the Noble took his Griffon to the right of the tower that the Sea Helm's Sea Guard occupied.

Magic saw the Level 4 try and cast Miasma on the smaller Swordmasters but this was dispelled. The follow-up Pit of Shades got past the dispel attempt but only killed one of the Swordmasters. Finally, in the shooting phase the Bolt Thrower shot dead two members of the middle Reaver unit, causing them to panic and flee almost off the board edge.

Turn two saw the first charges of the game as the Reavers and Lion Chariot tried to charge the Silver Helms while the Archers on the left charged the wounded phoenix. The Reavers and Archers got in but the Lion Chariot failed. The fleeing Reavers rallied while both Swordmaster units continued marching up the board, with the Reavers that had been covering them slipping out between the two and the Eagle on that side behind the Swordmaster units. The second Eagle flew up into the opposing deployment zone in a position to threaten the Bolt Thrower.

A smaller magic phase this turn saw me only cast one spell, Arcane Unforging at the Sea Helm but this was dispelled by Steve's Archmage. The Reavers on the left shot at the Sea Helm's unit but failed to hit at all. In contrast, the Archers in the Watchtower shot at the Bolt Thrower, actually managing to wipe it out, even after Steve had rolled the armour saves he was convinced the crew didn't have. With that inspiration the Bolt Thrower on the right fired a volley at the Anointed and his phoenix, managing to cause two wounds to the Anointed. Not to be outdone, the Bolt Thrower on the left fired a volley at the Noble on his Griffon and shot him off his mount and wounding the beast.

The charging Reavers actually managed to do a wound to the Silver Helms but took four back in reply to lose the combat, although the survivor held. Against the Frostheart Phoenix, the Archers managed to do two wounds to it, although they took six back to lose the combat by one, holding due to being Steadfast.

Steve's turn two saw the enraged Anointed charge into the Bolt Thrower, mouthing furious insults at the lowly crew who had wounded him. The unengaged phoenix moved into the left of my deployment zone to threaten the Bolt Thrower there while the rider-less Griffon sat itself in front of the Swordmasters. In Steve's deployment zone the Sea Guard moved onto the hill in front of them while the unit behind the wood reformed to line up on the Eagle.

In what was another low-ish dice magic phase the Shadow wizard failed to cast Miasma at the smaller unit of Swordmasters. The Great Eagle took a wound from shooting from the Sea Guard while the other Sea Guard units shot at the left-most unit of Reavers, killing three. It was a case of handbags at dawn between the Silver Helms and Ellyrian Reavers which saw the last Reaver break and die due to losing by a musician. The Anointed swiftly cut through the Bolt Thrower crew while the Phoenix killed off the Archers, although it took another wound in the process before reformed to face the nearest Swordmasters.

Said unit of Swordmasters were determined to rid themselves of one flying enemy before the other Phoenix had the chance to charge them and so charged into the Griffon in front of them. The Lion Chariot declared a charge on the Silver Helms who fled, off the board as it happened due to the angle. The Eagle in Steve's deployment zone moved up to threaten the Sea Guard over on the left while the other Eagle, for reasons that escape me now, I moved behind the Griffon. The left unit of Reavers moved into the flank of the Sea Guard on the hill while the unit that had rallied the previous turn moved out to be able to shoot at the Anointed, who was helpfully facing away from them. Finally, the general's unit of Swordmasters moved further into Steve's deployment zone.

With seven dice versus five the High wizard cast Arcane Unforging at the Sea Helm, attempting to destroy his World Dragon banner. The spell went off irresistibly, the Banner protected against the wound caused by the spell and I then rolled a 1 when I needed anything but in order to destroy the Banner. I rolled a two for the miscast but fortunately the only consequence was the death of a couple of Swordmasters and the loss of my remaining power dice.

Both the Reavers now on the right and the Archers in the tower shot at the Anointed on his Phoenix, although only the Archers managed to make Steve sweat as they did two wounds to the Anointed and one to the Phoenix, although the combined armour and Ward Saves kept rider and monster alive. The surviving Bolt Thrower shot at the Phoenix on the left but failed to wound it. Lastly for the phase the Reavers on the left shot at the Sea Guard on the hill but couldn't wound.

The Noble's Griffon took out some of its grief on the charging Swordmasters, killing two before it was cut down. Its death caused the nearby Phoenix to panic and flee 9" away. It rallied in Steve's turn which also saw the Anointed charge the Lion Chariot and the other Phoenix charge my last Bolt Thrower. There was movement from all three Sea Guard units with those on the left moving backwards off the hill, the unit in the tower exiting so that thery were close to the Great Eagle and the third unit moving through the wood to the other side.

Again the Archmage attempted to cast Miasma, this time on the Lion Chariot. The Light Wizard tried and failed to stop it which saw the Chariot's weapon skill reduced by three. Next Okkam's Mindrazor was cast on the Sea Guard which was successfully dispelled by my High mage. Behind the hill, the Sea Guard shot at the unit of Reavers hitting seven times but wounding only once, and that being saved. The Sea Helm's unit shot at the Great Eagle, managing to do a single wound to it.

The Lion Chariot was destroyed without doing anything to the Anointed or his Phoenix. The other Phoenix was likewise untroubled in its combat against the Bolt Thrower crew.

Turn four and the Eagle facing the Sea Guard unit charged into them. The General's Swordmasters moved forwards to give line of sight to the Sea Guard unit for casting while the other Swordmasters reformed to put the wounded Phoenix in their front arc. The second Eagle moved up behind the Sea Guard and Eagle combat, the Reavers on the left moved into the flank of the Sea Guard behind the hill and the other Reavers moved to the right of the hill, out of the Anointed's charge arc.

I think the first spell I attempted to cast this turn was a Banishment at the wounded phoenix (have to say "I think" because I can't read my handwriting for this) which was dispelled. The High mage cast Soul Quench at the Sea Guard, killing five but not making them panic. Finally, the Light wizard cast Timewarp on his unit.

Shooting saw the Reavers on the left shoot ineffectively at the Anointed. The Archers in the tower were more successful, causing some wounds with their shots and seeing the Frostheart Phoenix take a wound. The Reavers on the left shot at the Sea Guard stood right next to them but failed to even hit. The Eagle was killed by the Sea Guard.

Steve's Anointed suddenly saw his doom at hand and ordered his Frostheart Phoenix to charge the Archers who had been peppering him with shots throughout the game. As the giant bird swooped in the Anointed was able to give his last utterance as the arrow he had foresee ending his life hit home and left him dead in the phoenix's saddle even as the beast reached the tower. The remaining movement of the turn was that of the other two Frosthearts who moved into either flank of the smaller Swordmaster units and the Sea Helm's unit marching towards Steve's right table quarter.

The Shadow Mage tried to cast Miasma on the Archers which I used my scroll on, anxious to give them whatever chance I could to do some wounds to the Frostheart. That was the only spell of the phase and shooting was just as unexciting with the Ellyrian Reavers on the right shrugging off the shooting of the Sea Guard opposite.

Feeling the cold chill their bones, the Archers in the tower failed to wound the Phoenix and lost three of their number. The presence of the beast unnerved them so much that they fled the tower

Turn five and the Great Eagle charged the Sea Guard behind the hill in the flank. The smaller Swordmasters made use of the Timewarp still in effect on them to march 20" into my deployment zone and the other unit reformed to give my general line of sight to the phoenixes. The fleeing Archers rallied while the Reavers on the right stayed where they were.

Hoping for a reasonable Winds of Magic dice phase I rolled snake eyes. With no channels I put my dice into a Soul Quench targeting the wounded phoenix and managed to take its remaining wounds. The Ellyrian Reavers tried to chip a few more wounds off the Anointed's Frostheart but the creature's Ward Save thwarted them. Finally the Great Eagle beat the Swordmasters who broke and fled off the board.

In Steve's movement phase the surviving phoenixes moved out to threaten the smaller unit of Swordmasters, moved further into his right hand table quarter while the other Sea Guard unit moved further up the table from where they shot at the Reavers on the right, killing all bar one.

Turn six and the only movement of note was the smaller Swordmasters reformed to put the phoenixes into their front arc. In magic the Light wizard used the Ring of Fury to target the Anointed's phoenix but I don't think it caused any wounds. (We were trying to play quickly to finish the turn before time was called and the few notes I do have from this round are pretty much random lines on a page so I'm struggling to make sense of them).

In Steve's turn he began by declaring a charge with a phoenix on the smaller Swordmasters who promptly failed their Terror test and fled off the board. The Sea Guard on the right moved up into my half of the table and then shot off the last Reaver in that quarter and that was the game.

On scenario points I'd gone from having four at the end of my last turn to just two while Steve had gone from one to three and won the game. He also picked up two secondary points for having scored more victory points and he claimed a piece of terrain to notch up 18 points overall. Myself, aside from my five points for turning up, I just had one tertiary point for claiming the hill.

Another loss then. Unfortunately it was largely in part down to me, due to rushing to make sure we could get a turn six in, forgetting to move the Reaver in the top left corner who could have nipped into my bottom left corner to guard against the failed Terror test panicking the Swordmasters off. While it wouldn't have preserved the win, it would at least have kept things to a draw. That said, I should also have been moving the Reavers who were down in the right corner late in the game to keep them out of range or sight of the Sea Guard who were moving up the table on that side, rather than worrying about pot-shots at the Anointed's Frostheart.

I'm not sure which failed dice roll in this game annoys me most - the Swordmasters running off the board late on or rolling a one when rolling to destroy the Banner of the World Dragon earlier on. Losing the game in the last player turn is gutting but not destroying the BotWD early on affected how I used my general's Swordmaster unit. I'd been hoping to get rid of the Banner and then use magic missiles to either wipe them out or panic them off the board. With all the monsters about on the board early on I was wary of potentially exposing the Swordmaster unit to a rear or flank charge if I failed a charge on the tower where the Sea Helm's unit were.

Fair play to Steve though, he declared the charge which wasn't really going to cost him anything but victory points if the combat went badly for him and got an unexpected, although not completely out of the realms of possibility, result. One thing I realised not long after the game had finished was that I'd forgotten at some point that it was table quarters, not deployment zones halves, that were the scoring conditions (somewhat ironically since it was remembering said condition that led to me winning this scenario last year).
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Game 6 - Luke Whitehead - Legions of Chaos
Scenario "Blood and Glory"

The final game of the weekend was Blood and Glory, using the scenario that gives the event its name. Unfortunately it was an almost perfect storm of what I didn't want in a game that weekend: a scenario where the armies were (potentially) deploying closer together, playing an army that I generally don't do too well against (while Luke was using the Legions of Chaos rules the units were Warriors all the way through), and my opponent was using big gribbly du jour that I've not played against and lost track of what it did about halfway through as Luke reeled off The Glottkin's characteristics and special rules.


The Glottkin

Exalted Hero
- Battle Standard Bearer

5 Chaos Warhounds
- Vanguard

5 Chaos Warhounds
- Vanguard

5 Chaos Warhounds
- Vanguard

Chaos Chariot
- Mark of Nurgle

Chaos Chariot
- Mark of Nurgle

Chaos Chariot
- Mark of Nurgle

Chaos Chariot
- Mark of Nurgle

9 Putrid Blight Kings
- Full Command
- Banner of Swiftness

4 Skullcrushers of Khorne
- Full Command
- Ensorcelled Weapons


Spells

Archmage (High Magic)
- Soul Quench
- Hand of Glory
- Arcane Unforging
- Fiery Convocation

Archmage (Lore of Light)
- Shem's Burning Gaze
- Pha's Protection
- Banishment
- Birona's Timewarp

The Glottkin
- Miasma of Pestilence
- Curse of the Leper
- Rancid Visitations
- Fleshy Abundance


Looking at Luke's list I had the advantage in the scenario with double the amount of fortitude Luke had and needing to "only" drop Luke's fortitude by two in order to secure the scenario win. On the downside, I had to be able to get at his fortitude. With the Lore selection I had at my disposal I couldn't see any way of taking out the Glottkin directly or boosting my units to be able to do the job themselves. Therefore, it looked like my best shot at victory would be to take out any two of the Blightkings, the Skullcrushers or the BSB.

Image

For my deployment I had two units of Reavers on the left with an Eagle about seven or eight inches further back. The larger unit of Swordmasters, including the General and BSB, were behind one of the Reaver units with the other Swordmaster unit and the Light wizard, to the right of the Reavers and just in front of the hill. On the hill were one of the Bolt Throwers and the large unit of Archers. To the right of the hill were the Lion Chariot and smaller unit of Archers. Just next to the Archers was the last unit of Reavers and then the Great Eagle behind the watchtower. Finally, the second Bolt Thrower was right up against the bounds of the deployment zone just behind the wall.

Luke deployed a unit of Warhounds to the behind and to the left of the building, with a chariot behind the building and another to the left of that. The Blightkings were next up with the BSB and then the Glottkin in the centre with the remaining two chariots. The second unit of Warhounds were just in front of the wood with the last unit of Warhounds to the right of it and the Skullcrushers behind them.

With the Vanguard moves the Reavers on the left ended up a bit further out on the left while the unit of Warhounds in front of the wood moved into the middle of the table, blocking my third unit of Reavers from being able to vanguard forwards.
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Luke won the first turn and declared the first charges of the game as the chariot to the right of the building declared a charge at the nearest unit of Reavers who fled, allowing the chariot to redirect at the next unit of Reavers. With the closeness of the board edge I didn't want to chance the unit fleeing off so early and so decided to chance the chariot not making the charge which, unfortunately for me, it did. Other movement saw the Warhounds on the left flank move up near to the Chariot/Reaver combat, the Warhounds on the right move into charge range of the Bolt Thrower behind the wall and the central unit of Warhounds march right up to block the Lion Chariot. The rest of the army moved up a bit more conservatively.

Luke rolled snake eyes for the Winds of Magic and I managed to channel a die so with dice even he attempted to cast Curse of the Leper at the smaller Swordmaster unit (I think - see my earlier comments about rushed notes) which was dispelled with ease. The chariot ran through the Reavers coming out six inches on the other side.

I returned the charging favour with the Lion Chariot hitting the Warhounds in front of it. The Reavers on the right moved round behind the wall while the Eagle on that flank moved up behind the Skullcrushers, hoping to make them fail a march test in Luke's next turn. On the left the Reavers moved out further into the flank.

With an average dice magic phase I managed to cast Birona's Timewarp on the Light wizard's unit and also an irresistible Fiery Convocation on the Blight Kings which did a total of one wound. Fortunately I also didn't suffer any negative consequences from the miscast, rolling a six for the effect and no wounds going through.

The Reavers on the right began by disappointing me, shooting at the Warhounds and doing no hits at all. That meant that the Bolt Thrower had to shoot the dogs rather than the Skullcrushers as I'd intended, although I did at least manage to kill two and cause them to flee. The other Bolt Thrower and the smaller Archer unit targeted the right-most chariot but could only do one wound which failed to get past the armour save. The large Archer unit fared similarly with their shooting at the Blightkings. Finally a bit of success as the Reavers on the left shot at the chariot and did a wound. The Lion Chariot munched the Warhounds.

Turn two and the Glottkin and one of the chariots on the left charged into the larger Swordmaster unit. The two chariots on the right also charged, one into the Lion Chariot and one into the smaller Archer unit. On the left the Warhounds and unengaged chariot moved further round while the Blightkings marched up behind the Glottkin.

In the magic phase Luke using his dice to dispel the Fiery Convocation that was on the Blightkings. Combat saw the two Chaos Chariots kill their respective enemies while the other chariot and the Glottkin cut a bloody swathe through the Swordmasters, although there was still enough of the unit left to be Steadfast.

My Eagle on the left charged the nearby Warhounds while the General's Swordmasters moved up into the wood, bringing them closer to the Blightkings and the left unit of Reavers reformed so they could shoot at the Warhounds on the left. On the right the Reavers moved round the wall.

In the magic phase my General cast Fiery Convocation on the Blightkings again, managing to do a single wound. Shooting was equally unimpressive as I managed to do a single wound to a chariot and one wound to the Blightkings, although that at least meant they were down to eight.

The combat phase saw the Eagle break the Warhounds, although it had exhausted itself doing that and failed to run it down the unit as they fled. The Glottkin and Chariot finished off the Swordmasters.

All four Chaos Chariots charged in turn three, targeting the remaining Archers, both Bolt Throwers and the Eagle on the left, all charges succeeding. The Skullcrushers and the rallied Warhounds marched into the centre of the table. In the magic phase Luke again used all of his dice to dispel Fiery Convocation while in the combat phase it was four combats and four units destroyed for Luke as the chariots ripped apart their opponents. Only the large unit of Archers had survived and they were fleeing.

Out of desperation as much as anything I tried to charge the Blightkings with the Swordmasters but the roll was very low and the unit ended up sat in the middle of the wood. In other movement, the Reavers on the left put themselves in the way of the left-most chariot to prevent a rear charge on the Swordmasters while the unit of Reavers on the right moved into close range of the Skullcrushers and the Eagle flew up close to the wood in Luke's deployment zone.

In the magic phase this time Luke managed to stop Fiery Convocation on the Blightkings and the Ruby Ring of Ruin, allowing the Archmage to cast Soul Quench on the unit scoring nine hits and six wounds, all but one of which Luke made armour saves for. My shooting couldn't even manage to cause any wounds.

Turn four and the chariot that had previously fought the smaller Swordmasters charged into the flank of the sister unit this turn while the left-most chariot charged into the blocking Reavers. The Warhounds on the left moved down to my board edge while the Skullcrushers went further into the centre.

With no Fiery Convocation to dispel this turn Luke tried to cast Miasma of Pestilence on the Swordmasters which I used my scroll on. Next up was Curse of the Leper cast on the chariot which got through, increasing the toughness by three.

In combat the Reavers fighting the chariot were cut down while under the effects of Curse the chariot didn't take any wounds from the Swordmasters.

For my turn four the Eagle flew onto the hill in Luke's deployment zone while the Reavers moved into the wood on his side of the table. My Archmage cast Fiery Convocation irresistibly on the Blightkings, this time managing to do enough wounds to kill one of them. The Swordmasters still couldn't do any wounds to the chariot in their flank but they managed to beat it on static combat resolution and it fled.

Not that that helped the Swordmasters massively as the other chariot now charged into their rear in turn five. The Skullcrushers reformed and started to go after the last unit of Reavers while the Glottkin turned round and the fleeing chariot rallied. With only a three dice magic phase Luke cast Miasma of Pestilence on the Swordmasters, managing to beat my dispel roll.

With Fiery Convocation still in effect the spell caused a wound to the Exalted BSB and did two wounds on the Blightkings which was enough to kill another. The charging chariot only managed to kill three Swordmasters but thanks to the Miasma on them they once again failed to do any damage, although they did still hold.

In my last turn of the game, in another desperation move, I charged the Great Eagle into the rear of the Blightkings, hoping against hope for Luke's unit to fluff all its rolls and break in combat. Fiery Convocation did two more wounds to the Blightkings, which stripped another model from the unit which performed as expected in combat and killed the Eagle. The Swordmasters beat the chariot in combat but it held.

Time was called then and although Luke hadn’t broken me, I’d been throwing so much in the way, or not having much choice but to let units be charged, and had killed so little that he won on victory points.

Looking back I’m still not sure what I could have done differently to win the game by breaking the fortitude of Luke’s army. I don’t know if throwing both units of Swordmasters into trying to kill the Glottkin might have worked better than trying to get the Blightkings and the BSB which is what my plan ended up being as the game went on. Certainly getting them into combat with the Glottkin without getting hit by multiple chariots was always going to be difficult.
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Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Wrap-up

On overall rankings I came 71st out of 76 placed contestants (sorting the results just on battle points I’d have been 69th), which is about par for the course on my previous tournament experience.

With the amount of practice I’d had coming into the event, and especially given lack of experience against the End Times armies, which I’d expected to be out in higher numbers than they were, if you’d told me before the weekend that I’d win two games I’d have been quite happy. Of course, I then went and won my first two games and suddenly I had to start wondering if I should be setting my sights a bit higher. While I was still under no delusions about placing particularly highly, I would have liked to have won a third game and there were definitely a couple that I felt were definitely lost on a dice roll rather than through being completely outplayed or having paper against scissors

List Thoughts

I was reasonably pleased with how the list worked. Scenario three was the only one where I felt having the extra fortitude was actually a liability, although given my history against Warriors I don’t think the result would have been too different.

In terms of what was missing from the list I think I’d have liked to have had some flaming shooting in the list in case I’d ended up facing an army with infantry in the Watchtower scenario or for taking regeneration off trolls. While for the most part the Swordmasters worked out fine, I also felt I missed the extra point of strength on the White Lions in game six, where it would have come in handy for chopping up the chariots, and I would have liked to have had the points of the Razor Banner to spend elsewhere.
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Amboadine
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Amboadine »

Wow, thanks for the report. I will have a proper read shortly, but thank you for taking the time to post this.
Clockwork
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Clockwork »

Hi Cerberus! I had no idea that there was a fellow Druchii.net member at Blood and Glory this year (although I myself was running my Lizardmen!). I'll look forward to rading these in my post-Christmas dinner fugue tomorrow :D

Any chance of getting a few turn by turn maps up? Having done these before I can appreciate that they take a lot of time to do, but I always find them incredibly useful to break up large walls of text.
Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Clockwork wrote:Hi Cerberus! I had no idea that there was a fellow Druchii.net member at Blood and Glory this year (although I myself was running my Lizardmen!). I'll look forward to rading these in my post-Christmas dinner fugue tomorrow :D

Any chance of getting a few turn by turn maps up? Having done these before I can appreciate that they take a lot of time to do, but I always find them incredibly useful to break up large walls of text.


Back in my early days of battle reporting I used to do turn by turn maps but it's a struggle finding time to do the reports themselves these days (bear in mind that it's been over four weeks since the event and I've probably spent three of those on reports (which in itself I'm taking as a sign of old age as I used to knock out reports from a tournament in a week)) so if I'd been trying to do turn by turn maps I probably wouldn't be done by next year's event!

I would post the turn by turn photos I take at the end of each movement phase but as these tend to get taken quite quickly they don't always show the whole of the board, aren't necessarily completely in focus, turns get missed out and by late in the game there's so many dead units cluttering up the board (well, generally my opponent's dead units when I manage to kill stuff - I normally put my dead units on top of my army box which is underneath the table) that I'd end up having to spend time saying what's going on in each picture and which bits to ignore
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Gidean
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Gidean »

Your Chaos Legions opponent...what was up with the matching terrain? Just for looks or did he really get to employ it in some fashion?
Cerebros
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Re: Blood and Glory 2014

Post by Cerebros »

Gidean wrote:Your Chaos Legions opponent...what was up with the matching terrain? Just for looks or did he really get to employ it in some fashion?


Just for looks, although the event had quite a lot of painting points available so it may have been to go on a display board
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