Having been utterly humiliated, the Tomb King Erik has decided to reclaim his lawn with the help of the mercenary ogre band of Chaos Grinders, lead by the cruel Tyrant Sköll, to kill the Chaos Warriors.
The Chaos Warriors leader Hate however shall not be found unprepared for their assault, and creates an unholy pact with the sadistic Dark Elf Queen Philippa.
Note: Well, another friendly game in my gaming group. 2v2, one new player on each side. You'll see some grey minis and some proxying, but I hope you can stand that. It's the second game for one of the new guys, and the first for the other! So I hope you don't mind.
If you really do mind, and can't stand the sight of grey minis or proxying, then please don't read any further.
If you don't, then feel free to go on reading ^^
The teams are Ogre Kingdoms and Tomb Kings vs Warriors of Chaos and Dark Elves, 1500 pts per player.
The proxies are a a Troll proxying a Irongut, and 3 Tomb King Chariots as well as a Warsphinx proxying 4 Mournfang Cavalry.
Oh, and we play the alliances as trusted, but we can't be arsed using the fragile alliance rule. We simply ruled them as trusted, so we won't have any rules-questions mid-game.
Pre-game interview:
Ogres - Tomb King (Bone Gnawers)
What is your game plan?
Erik: Not to die as fudging hard. Just like last time. Hopefully things will go better with the Ogre pawnch.
Sköll: I'll be true to my faction and follow my gut feeling. Ohyeah.
Me: So basically, Erik does what he always does while Sköll kills everything?
Erik: Yeah, pretty much. My plan is to stand there and get hurt while Sköll manages to hurt the opponents.
*Sköll giggles*
Me: Okay...
What are your hopes?
Erik: Yet again not to die as fudging hard, maybe even with the slight possibility of winning, depending on the Ogre hitting power.
Sköll: I just want to make Erik happy.
What are your fears?
I'm not even gonna bother to write Eriks answer because you already know it.
Sköll: To get too many hits in my guts.
So, do you have any plan to counter his units?
Erik: Ironguts go kill the Hydra and Chimera while Leadbelchers shoot the soft parts (extrahandweaponguys and the likes) or some annoying Dark Elf sh*t. The Skeleton horde goes anvil while Tomb Guard stand beside them and try to do something... for a change. Necropolis Knights go butthunting from beneath the sands, possibly to kill the BIG UNIT. Oh, and to kill the Dark Elf Sorceress, so I'll be able to do ANYTHIIING with my MAGIIICCSSSS!
Me: Anything to add Sköll?
Sköll: I'll just make sure to follow orders, so I'll get paid later.
For a last question, what unit of yours is your favourite, and what do you hope it will achieve?
Erik: So yeah, my favourite unit is my Skeleton Horde, because it's painted and beautiful! However, they don't do anything (Me: So skeletons are just like the goggles? Lol.) So I'll just hope they'll survive.
Sköll: My favourite unit is the Tyrant (proxied by a Butcher), because he's fudging bloody and got a cool sword. I hope he'll kill something for dinner.
Chaos Warriors - Dark Elves (Team Satan)
What is your game plan?
Hate and Philippa in unison: To win.
Me: Anything more specific..?
Hate: Well, to destroy... annihilate... eradicate... obliterate... exterminate... and purge.
What are your hopes?
Philippa: To win!
Hate: Victory.
Philippa: And hopefully it'll go well.
What are your fears?
Hate: Philippa.
Philippa: Darn it. Oh well, that's usually the answer to that question...
Me: Any real fear then?
Hate: As in the opponents? Well... no.
Philippa: I'm fearing they'll kill my Hydra. I mean... it's my Hydra...
So, do you have any plan to counter his units?
Philippa: I got a Hydra. Other than that, I really don't know.
Hate: No not really. I haven't faced Ogres before, so I made a pretty generic take-all-comers list.
For a last question, what unit of yours is your favourite, and what do you hope it will achieve?
Philippa: Corsairs. Heh, nah just joking. Hydra. I mean, Corsairs are good-looking, but Hydra. And I hope he'll feed until he's full. Oh, and I like my Cold Ones too!
Hate: I would say my Chaos Lord. The very same that in the previous battle had the Eyes of the Gods upon him, even though he only was a meager Exalted Hero. And he still got his Juggernaut.
Me: So what do you hope he'll achieve?
Hate: Is that even a question..? To kill is the answer. Bloodshed.
Lists:
Ogres:
Lord:Tyrant w/ Ironfist, Sword of Anti-Heroes, Gut Maw, Giantbreaker - The General
Hero:Bruiser w/ Dragonhide Banner, Ironfist, Heavy Armour, Battle Standard Bearer
Core:6 Ogres w/ Ironfists, Full Command
6 Ironguts w/ Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame
Special:4 Leadbelchers w/ Thunderfist
Rare:4 Mournfang Cavalry w/ Heavy Armour, Ironfists, Full Command
Tomb Kings:
Lord:Liche High Priest lvl4 w/ Dispel Scroll, Scroll of Mighty Incantations
Hero:Tomb Prince w/ Armour of Silvered Steel, Dragonstone Pendant, Great Weapon - The general
Necrotect
Core:48 Skeleton Warriors w/ Shields, Spears, Full Command
15 Skeleton Archers
Special:20 Tomb Guards w/ Full Command
3 Necropolis Knights w/ Entombed Beneath the Sands
Rare:Casket of Souls
Dark Elves:
Lord:Supreme Sorceress lvl4 (Shadow Magic) w/ Sacrificial Dagger, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Darkness
Hero:Master w/ Armour of Darkness, Crimson Death, Cold One - The General
Core:20 Corsairs w/ Additional Hand Weapon, Full Command
16 Crossbowmen w/ Full Command
12 Spearmen w/ Full Command
Special:Cold One Knights w/ Standard Bearer, Dreadknight
Rare:Hydra
Chimera (We let her play the Chimera because why not?)
Warriors of Chaos:
Lord:Chaos Lord w/ Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut, Helm of Many Eyes, Sword of Bloodshed - The General
Hero:Exalted Hero w/ Battle Standard Bearer, Armour of Silvered Steel, Additional Hand Weapon
Chaos Sorcerer lvl2 (Lore of Fire), Powered Familiar
Core:15 Chaos Warriors w/ Mark of Tzeentch (MoT), Shields, Standard Bearer
15 Chaos Warriors w/ Additional Hand Weapon (AHW), Standard Bearer (Banner of Rage)
Special:5 Chaos Knights w/ Mark of Khorne, Standard Bearer
Pre-game:
Mission: Battleline.
Roll for magic:Tomb Kings has the Killing Blow Spell, the Protection Spell, the Attack Spell, the Movement Spell.
Warriors of Chaos has The Piercing Bolts of Burning, Fireball.
Dark Elves has Enfeebling Foe, The Withering, The Penumbral Pendulum, Pit of Shades.
Terrain:The terrain, with a pretty hydra in a pretty garden:
Deployment:
Roll-off:
Team Satan wins the roll off and lets Bone Gnawers deploy their first unit first.
The Casket of Souls is deployed on the northernmost hill.
Team Satan insults the other team ("JUMP IN YOU FUDGING FOOLS!") while placing 15 MoT Warriors rather south, about 6 inches from the south hill.
Bone Gnawers places Skeleton Horde with Tomb Prince very centrally.
Chimera flies down close to the northern forest.
Skeleton Archers march up diagonally behind the Horde (And I dare assume this is to cast support magic).
Chaos Knights go to support the MoT Warriors, south of them.
Tomb Guard with Necrotectare placed on the other diagonal from the Archers (for moar support magics).
Crossbowmen walk up next to the Chimera. (And by now, it starts looking like it will be Tomb Kings vs Dark Elves and Warriors of Chaos vs Ogres... It seems pretty split up).
Ogres with Tyrant and Bruiser get's deployed straight forward from the Chaos Knights and MoT Warriors.
MoK Warriors then cover the Knights' other flank. Either that, or they'll just be in their way, it seems to me.
Leadbelchers are the next to get to the battle, positioning themselves south of the generic Ogres.
The Hydra gets driven forth in front of the house's garden (in which it is standing in the terrain picture. Personally I just think it wanna go home there again, but the mean Tomb Kings chased it out of there!).
Suddenly, wild Liche Priest appears! In the archer unit. Wow, I'm so surprised.
Hate deploys the Lord on Juggernaut in between the Chaos Knights and MoT Warriors, as a part of the Knight-unit. Straight in the sight of the Tyrant with Giantbreaker. Awesome challenge ensues.
Ironguts are placed on the other side of the woods from their fellow Ogres.
Corsairs are the next up, getting placed... Wait what, they are placed on the CHAOS SIDE OF THE BATTLEFIELD OMG! This is actually the first unit to be placed this way, every other unit has been grouped up with their brethren. And the Corsairs are straight ahead of the Ironguts.
Next skeleton chario-- err, Mournfang Cavalry, are placed (in an attempt to imitate the Dark Elf feat) beside the Tomb Guard. Not sure what they aim to do though. Kill the Chimera?
Now, only Team Satan have units left to deploy.
Exalted Hero go hugging the MoK Warriors. El wizardo of chaos goes to assure the Crossbowmen act nicely and join their unit. North of the Chimera, Dark Elf Spearmen move into position with their Supreme Sorceress while Hate goes searching for his family. I mean familiar. And then the Cold One Knights with Master place themselves even more north. Though what they're doing there I have no idea. They'll stand no chance against the Mournfang...
Team Satan win the roll for deciding who gets the first turn, and decide that Bone Gnawers go first.
Turn 1 (Bone Gnawers):
Movement:
Forward is a good song by Angels and Agony imo (We go forward, forward~). Also, it well describes what happens. Skeleton Horde, Archers and Tomb Guard go forward. This is also true for generic Ogres, Leadbelchers, Ironguts and Mournfang Cavalry.
Magic:
Roll is 6 - 3, Casket of Souls grants 1. So 10 Power dice, 6 Dispel dice.
First spell in the air is the Movement Spell, successfully cast and moving the Skeleton Horde, Tomb Guard and Archers even more forward.
Next up: Extended Protection Spell, which is dispelled by Philippa.
Casket bound spell kills 2 Spearmen.
Shooting:
Leadbelchers, go! Firing at the Chaos Knights, but three wounds does not manage to kill any of them.
Skeleton Archers kills two Crossbowmen.
Close Combat:
Nope.
Turn 1 (Team Satan):
Movement:
Charging attempts!
Chimera say ROAR and tries to charge the Tomb Guard. A swiftstriding 17" seals the deal.
And yet again everything goes forward. Except for Cold One Knights, who just wheel a little and then back up away from the Mournfang. The Supreme Sorceress' Unit seeks shelter in the woods, while crossbowmen simply hold their ground.
Magic:
4 Power Dice, 3 Dispel Dice. Powered Familiar grants another Power Dice, and so it's 5 vs 3.
First cast is Power of Darkness, granting 1 extra dice. 6 Power Dice, 3 Dispel Dice.
Pit of Shades is then cast on all 6 dice, but is promptly sucked up by a dispel scroll.
Shooting:
Crossbowmen fire their awesome volley of bolts at the "clusterf*ck" as Philippa lovingly described the Skeleton Horde. Pew pew! Actually, that's a lot more pew than I thought. 4 Wounds, and three 6+ saves saved later, 1 Skeleton die.
Close Combat:
CHIMAERARAREARAREA gets attacked. 13 attacks, and 6 of them wounds as Philippa begin to despair. However, saves keeps the Chimera alive with one wound. The Chimera exacts vengeance by killing 4 and then stomping 5 for a total kill streak of 9. Combat resolution kills another 6 of the Tomb Guard. Sweet.
Turn 2 (Bone Gnawers):
Movement:
And now is the charging turn.
Mournfang charge the Supreme Sorceress and spearmen. Generic Ogres charges Chaos Knights. Ironguts charge corsairs.
Mournfang fail though. Ogres fail too. And even so the Ironguts.
EL CHARGOS DE LA MUERTE. 'Cept notrly.
Skeleton Horde shuffle forward, while Leadbelchers moonwalk to the side in behind the forest.
Magic:
6 - 1, Casket give 3. 10 Power Dice, 6 Dispel dice.
First off, the Attack Spell on the Tomb Guard, with 3 dice. All 6 Dispel dice go to stop it, and stops it indeed.
Next up, the Protection spell. Fail by 1 point, and concentration is broken!
Luckily, the Casket is there to provide a Power Dice dump, killing another 2 Spearmen.
Shooting:
Archers and Leadbelchers fire at Crossbowmen and MoT Warriors respectively.
Archers down another 3 Crossbowmen, while Leadbelchers fail to do anything at all.
Close Combat:
Ohshiiit, will the Chimera make it? Erik rolls... One wound exactly! AND THE SAVE FAILS NOOOOOOOOO! Chimera dead.
Turn 2 (Team Satan):
Movement:
Charges:
Chaos Knights charge the generic Ogres. Personally I'm in favor of this, to witness the Chaos Lord facing the Tyrant. Ohyeah. And they succeed on their range! WOOH!
Regarding the movement, Hydra does not go back into its garden as I wanted it to (My friends tell that it's a naughty Hydra :c ), but instead choose to go alongside the fences and BURN THE SKELETONS! KILL THEM WITH FIRE! It actually ends up just an inch beside the Skeleton Horde, so they won't be able to charge it. Nice.
Sorceress' unit backs away from the Mournfang. MoK Warriors move up to the fence and spy into the garden at some unsuspecting pretty flowers. Cold One Knights does some weird side-dance.
Magic:
3 - 1 (again). Power of Darkness gets dispelled.
So it's 3 dice vs 2 dice now.
So what do you do? You do a IRRESISTABLE MISCAST PIERCING BOLT. At the Skeleton Horde, killing 6 of them.
Now for the miscast. Magical Feedback, 'tis, causing one wound on the Sorcerer and Sorceress.
Shooting:
Hurr durr Hydra flame. S5 Flame hitting 32 models. Wait wat. Eight of the dice are 1's though, so only 24 of the Skeletons die. And few of them remain.
Let's see if the Crossbowmen can keep up with the efficiency of the Hydra then.
Well, no. 3 wounds caused, three 6+ saves saved. Erik got some luck yo (except for that broken concentration thing, but oh well..).
Close Combat:
Lord challenges the Tyrant, who has to accept! Tyrant takes one wound, and is now punching back. I feel like the Lords demise is near. But the Chaos Lord saves both of the S7 wounds he got. So the Juggernaut bites back, adding another wound to the Tyrants lost wounds total.
Now for the units: Warriors roll their attacks with a grunt of disapproval from Hate, and to wound with a short shout of disapproval. And horses bite too. But they actually manage to slay two Ogres, who cannot into killing (i.e. they kill nothing!).
And Ogres break! And get run over, wat?! Well... That's the Ogres, and Tyrant.. And Bruiser Battle Standard Bearer. Yeah...
Turn 3 (Bone Gnawers):
Movement:
Charges:
Ironguts fail their charges yet again, stumbling forward. Mournfang Cavalry too. Hurr durr... Is it just me, or is the Cold One Knights / Mournfang Cavalry flank war pretty lame?
Anyways, the bold Tomb Guard charge the Hydras flank! Excitement!
Leadbelchers turn towards the Chaos Knights.
Magic:
12 Power Dice, 6 Dispel Dice.
First up, Extended Protection Spell with a barely success! After some consideration, they decide to use their Dispel Scroll instead of dispelling.
So a movement spell is cast, and dispelled by 2 dispel dice.
Now, the Killing Blow Spell, and it gets through. Some Skeletons are raised, and this is followed by a Mighty Incantation-Attack Spell, Irresistably Miscast. Some wounds are regained, and the Liche Priest loses one wound.
Shooting:
Leadbelchers shoot they Knights they face, killing one of them. Sköll as raging at the damned Knights by now.
Archers however unleash a MIGHTY VOLLET OF (UN-)DEATH, killing two spearmen.
Close Combat:
Hydra handlers strikes! 4 attacks, 4 hits, 3 wounds, 2 dead. Fair, I'd say.
Retaliation! 1 Wound, saved, from the Tomb Guards.
HYDRA MAD! And by mad I mean killing Tomb Guards mad.
And now, with the Tomb Guard pretty much dead, the proud Tomb King finally realise his defeat and concedes. Bone Gnawers no longer see any chance to win this. They are severely weakened, forgot their Entombed Beneath the Sands and stand in a generally impossible position. The Hydra will Flank Charge the Skeleton Horde. Both the Chaos Warrior units are totally unharmed. Cold One Knights are too, and Chaos Knights pretty much. Ironguts won't handle the Corsairs and Chaos Warriors by themselves. So it's a concede.
Redux: What do you consider your biggest mistake? What have you learned?
Erik: No forgetting Entombed Beneath the Sands. Use Halbers on Tomb Guard. But they killed a Chimera. I'm proud of them.
Sköll: I held back too much, no holding back. I need to go for the guts, with the guts. I'll have to move farther ahead, and not being afraid of getting charged. The Mournfang Cavalry showed this very well.
Hate: I made some wrongs in the first magic phase. We should have done better and thrown some fire magics. I've gotten some basic understanding of Ogres. And Hydras are good.
Philippa: Hydra.
In my opinion though, this battle was won by some excellent manouvering more than dumb luck. Sure, some luck was had on both sides, but in the end the manouvering, particularily that of the Hydra to kill the Skeletons and keep the Mournfang away was the game-winner.
However, most importantly of all, the Hydra returned home.
The hydra pic is pure awesome!
SvaraRadera