First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

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TheSupremePatriarch
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First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by TheSupremePatriarch »

Hi guys,

This is the first Battle Report I've ever written, so apologies if I've made any mistakes. Also I'm writing this during a slow day at work and will add the pictures I've taken as soon as I get home :P

I was playing my MSU list for the June comp: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=74823

Mainly - Peglord, 2 Pegmasters, SS and BSB on horse, backed by units of DR and Warlocks, unit of RXB and 3 RBTs for support and 2 COC for some hitty power.

To the best of my knowledge, this was my opponents list:

Runelord, Gromril Armour, GW, gave MR to the unit and had a 5++.
Runesmith, Gromril, GW, 2 Runes of Spellbreaking.
Thane BSB, Gromril, GW, gave the unit +3 Combat Res.

24 Quarrelers, Standard
30 Longbeards, FC - Runelord here

30 Hammerers, FC - Runesmith and BSB here
2 Cannons, both with Rune of Forging, so could re-roll misfire, 1 also had the rune for flaming attacks

2 Organ guns, both with Rune of Accuracy, so +1 to hit, one also had Rune of Forging.

Deployment

We were playing a 6' by 4', straight battle. Hills on the central board pieces and one in a corner in his side. Arcane ruins, a large broken tower and a forest spread out in a sort of line across the middle and a Tower in my deployment zone, although that was purely somewhere for me to keep my dice :P

He deployed with an organ gun on his right flank in one corner, next to his longbeards, then the unit of quarrelers, then his hammerers, with the final artillery pieces on the other flank. Was spread across almost 2 tiles, about 3 or 4" from the board edge.

I placed my RBT in front of the tower, on the hill opposite his quarrelers, with the RXBs to their left. Then on that left flank, opposite his organ gun I had a unit of DR in front of a unit of Warlocks. My Dreadlord was behind the RXBs on his Pegasus. then on the right flank of the RBTs was another unit of DR, in front of a COC with another COC further to the right. The Pegmaster with 4++ was behind and to the right of the COC. In the centre of my battleline was the second unit of Warlocks, with my SS and BSB. Across on the tile to the right, on my flank were 2 units of DR and the last Pegmaster, with the CoT was between the Warlocks and the DR on my right flank.

Turn 1

He went first. With my vanguard, I moved everything forward, the DR and Warlocks on my left flank went straight forward to use the Arcane Ruins as cover. THe DR near the RBTs went along the side of the Tower in the middle, the Warlcosk went along the other side of the same tower. The units of DR on the right flank went as far forward as they could and closer to the trees on the tile to my opponents left.

He didn't move, went straight to shooting. The Organ gun on his right shot 3 of the 5 DR out of the unit near the Arcane ruins, who then luckily passed their panic check. The unit of DR that went towards the centre tower were shot off the board by the Quarrelers and the organ gun on his left shot another unit of DR off my right flank, causing the second unit to panic and flee. One cannon shot at my SS who passed her 4++ ward, another shot at the Dreadlord who failed his and was shot off before he could move. This caused the RXBs to panic and start fleeing, and one of the RBTs to panic - which I'm told means they don't flee but just can't fire for a turn, is this correct? Really didn't know the answer to that.

Anyway, it comes to my turn and I'm sitting there thinking 2 units of fast cav are gone as is my general, 2 other units are fleeing. My Dr carried on fleeing, so I had nothing on my right flank. The RXBs rallied and turned around. The remaining 2 Dr in my unit on my left flank went round to stand next to his organ gun, followed by the unit of Warlocks. The other unit of Warlocks swung round to threaten his artillery on my right flank. The CoT master flew into the forest on my opponents left flank, the 4++ Master flew into the ruined tower. Both COCs moved towards the central tower, trying to use it to shield from artillery fire cos I knew I'd have to last another barrage.

Magic - didn't roll too badly for WoM but didn't manage to get anything off. Soulblight on the Hammerers went through but the boosted Doombolt was stopped using his Rune of Spellbreaking but luckily they didn't lose the spell, which is what he can do on a 4+ with 2 of that rune. In the shooting phase, my RBTs still in play took some shots at the Hammerers but only managed to knock off 1. So I was thinking there wasn't much I could do, his one round of shooting had crippled me quite badly.

Turn 2

His turn 2, nothing charges, eh just pivots some of his artillery. On to shooting. The organ gun on his right flank takes off the remaining 2 DR, hoping to get the Warlocks to panic, luckily they don't. His Quarrelers take some potshots at the 4++ Master in the tower, cause 2 wounds which he saves on his armour. The Organ gun on his left flank takes out 2 Warlocks so my SS loses her LoS roll and is then targeted by 2 cannons, one hits short and she passes her ward on the other one. End of his turn.

DR on my right flank keep fleeing....I charge my Warlocks on my left flank into his Organ gun, the Warlocks with SS and BSB on my right into his cannon. DR on my right flank go into his Organ gun, effectively taking his artillery out of the equation. my CoT Master moves up behind the Warlocks on my right flank to support when needed and my 4++ Master gets from the ruined tower behind his Quarrelers but in charge arc of the Hammerers. COCs shuffle a little further forward on their stunted Cold One legs. RXBs move a little further forward as they're out of range of everything.

Magic - ended up with 3 power dice, he had 3 Dispel. Threw them at Soulblight on the Quarrelers, got through. Shooting, took a few pot shots at his Quarrelers knocking off a couple but not enough to cause panic. Combat, ripped through his artillery. Warlocks on my left flank restrain, the Warlocks on my right flank overrun into his second cannon. The DR who charged the Organ gun however, fail to kill anyone, instead lose 2 DR but luckily don't break.

Turn 3

He charges his Hammerers into the DR combat with the Organ gun and reforms his Longbeards to face the Warlocks. The Quarrelers move forward as they don't have anything to shoot at. No magic, no shooting as his artillery is gone and the Quarrelers are move or fire. I manage to kill off the crew of the organ gun but the DR are wiped out. They achieved their purpose anyway. He turns to face my Warlocks on his left flank, with the SS and BSB.

I move the Warlocks on my left flank around his Longbeards so they're now at his flank and rear of the Quarrelers. I then throw a multi charge at the Hammerers. CoT Master and Warlocks into the front, 4++ master into one flank and CoC into the other. The DR on my right have finally stopped fleeing so turn to join the battle and the remaining CoC moves further forward.

Magic did quite well - boosted Doombolt ripped through most of the Quarrelers and Soulblight was stopped on the Hammerers but Withering got through, reducing their Toughness to 1. I got to strike first, obviously :P, got rid of almost the entire unit. Out of about 27 Hammerers and 2 characters that went into the fight, when it came to him striking back, 8 Hammerers and the 2 characters were left. However, I lost my SS - most of them directed their attacks at her, she passed 3 ward saves but failed the other 3. Everything else passed their saves. He loses combat but holds as he's steadfast.

Turn 4

No charges. His Longbeards decide to stop dancing with the Warlocks and turn around towards the Hammerers. Shooting, his Quarrelers take out a few of the RXBs. Combat, All of his remaining Hammerers and the Characters are killed before they can strike. I restrain with everything.

On to my turn - I move everything into position around the Longbeards. Warlocks and 4++ Master to the rear, Warlocks with BSB in the flank and CoC to the front. the CoT master moves to the flank of the Quarrelers and the last CoC moces into position to hit the Longbeards as well. the DR on my flank finally get in range to do something.

Magic, 3 dice phase, nothing is cast. Shooting, all but a few Quarrelers are taken off the board, 1 wound to the Longbeards.

Turn 5

He declares a charge with his Longbeards against my CoC, fails and shifts 3" forward. Shooting, manages to wipe out a few more RXBs, who then flee.

My turn, RXBs rally, everything charges. CoT master into the remaining Quarreler, Warlocks and Pegmaster into the rear of Longbeards, Warlocks and BSB into the flank and one of the CoC into the front, the other one was blocked by the first so he moves around. Magic, again another 3 dice phase and nothing goes through. No shooting. Combat wipes out the last Quarreler and reduces the Longbeards down to about 7 men plus the Runelord - however I lost my BSB. Everything else passes its save. He calls the game at the end of my Turn 5.

Result - Clear Victory

So it was a win, and not one I expected at first - I've been playing the WE/CoB horde and lately a BG horde with the CoB as well. This MSU list was very different to what I usually play but it was really fun to play. I liked being able to move around essentially anything, even when he was attempting to corner himself in. If he'd plonked himself in one corner in front of his artillery, I'd have to shoot everything whilst enduring his artillery, so luckily that didn't happen. Him placing his artillery on his flanks was a big mistake in my opinion, and his army seemed very small compared to mine. He said he'd upgraded everything as much as he could.

Even though I managed to turn it after losing both my Lords, I'm not sure this will be a list I bring out very often. I like having one unit that I can rely on to do some real damage. It focuses my opponent in one direction and makes them a little blind to what is coming around the side. It's also something to rely on and bunker in. Having my Characters out on their own hasn't really worked out for me. I've only used a Dreadlord on a Pegasus twice and both times he was shot off before getting into combat, the first time by a steam tank. Morathi got shouted at by a terrorgheist in my last game and fell off her horse and died. I prefer having my characters in a block for some protection. On the flip side however, having that many units on the board meant even if he shot some off, there were still plenty of others to worry about, coming from all over the place.

So like I said, fun list to play, but not one I'm planning on running every week. And I will post the pictures I have as soon as I get home :) Apologies for the essay, I tend to ramble :P
Last edited by TheSupremePatriarch on Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Amboadine
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by Amboadine »

Thanks for the write up. First lesson, don't leave lords out in the open first turn :)
Congratulations on the win however. MSU takes a while to get the best out of, and a fairly step learning curve. You were lucky he deployed his artillery in a vulnerable position, but took full advantage.
Looking forward to seeing the pictures.
TheSupremePatriarch
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by TheSupremePatriarch »

Cheers :D haha yeah I've learned that lesson the hard way twice now :P the Warlock Bus will be next in a couple of weeks, playing a doubles game this week against a couple of ugys throwing out a Bonegrinder and a Toad Dragon among other nasty beasties.

Yeah I did really enjoy playing it, will try it again sometime. Just working my way through my different lists at the moment. Quite like having Shadow as a supporting lore, Doombolt is a brilliant offensive spell in my opinion against almost all opponents. Shadow compliments it brilliantly.

I cannot for the life of my figure out how to add pictures haha....I think I've attached them to the post but can't see anything :/
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by Amboadine »

Upload them to a host like photobucket and then link to it using the Img tag. Photobucket already provides the code next to the picture that you can just copy and paste into your posts.
LordAK
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by LordAK »

Nice.. congrats for the win. Hope to see the pictures.
TheSupremePatriarch
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by TheSupremePatriarch »

Cheers guys :) a little swamped at work atm but will definitely have them up by the end of the week
TheSupremePatriarch
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by TheSupremePatriarch »

And here's the link to the pics, hopefully it all works :)

http://s1319.photobucket.com/user/UmarA ... s%20Dwarfs

Apologies - getting caught up in the game I only managed to take a couple :P will definitely remember more for next time

*edited with the right linki
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by Amboadine »

Thanks for the photos, having either illustrations or photos really helps explain what was happening and allows us to see any opportunities or moments of genius far clearer. :)
TheSupremePatriarch
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Re: First Battle Report - MSU 2400 against Dwarf Gunline

Post by TheSupremePatriarch »

Definitely - I'll make sure to take lots more when I try the Warlock Bus :P
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