Conquest 2012 - Battle Reports

Game 1 – Bretonnians – Basil Moskivis

Scenario: Dawn Attack

Basil and I meet again. Happens any time we attend the same tourney! This time he turned up with his Bretonnians. 2 Trebuchet, 3 blocks of knights, some skirmishers, yeomen, archers and Pegasus Knights made up his field. The scenario was a variant of Dawn attack.

We rolled for deployment which resulted in me being able to make a castle on my right, and Basil on my left. My casket was left out to dry by itself, but attracted a lot of deployment attention which worked out well in the end. I formed my priority target list as usual, which was basically Pegasus knights, the chaff protecting his left flank, and the trebuchets. I could see Basil was eyeing up the casket all jelly and such.

The game started with me pushing the right flank with horse archers all the while shooting the peggys Scatterpults tried for some trebby kills accounting for 3 wounds on one. Basil pushed my left with the knights making a barrel line straight for the casket with two units! The sole unit of 10 skittles will have some work cut out for them…

The mid game consisted of skittle horse archers being charged by yeomen and the likes and ‘winning’ combat! This secured me the left flank and allowed me to roll forward and commit the Tomb Guard. The Stalkers popped up turn 3 and gave the wounded trebby a funny look. They then proceeded to GTFO so the counter fire from archers wouldn’t send them back into the ground. Basils 2 knight blocks double flanked the casket. My poor lil skittles guarding it could only redirect one of them. Big meany horse boys… It goes boom and kills a few knights for lol’s. Battlelines are drawn and the game looks like we are playing battle for the pass now.

In the closing stages of the game I try to force Basil into a combat with my Tomb Guard, but hes having none of it. Canny ol’ Basil is all learned on my rocks vs his scissors. I go on a fishing trip but can’t catch anything. I drop some knights down to 3 or 4 ponies, but to little to late.

Game ends in a draw. Again. There is 24 vp in it. Bloody Basil and his draws.

Game 2 – Chaos Warriors – Jordan Rees

Scenario: Objective

Its an odd thing. At the beginning of the year I dreaded fighting Chaos Warriors. These days I look forward to the match ups. I actually think they are a good matchup, at least with the local meta. Jordan’s got a few warrior blocks, backed up with characters, a unit of Knights, some puppies and crazy men on ponies. The scenario is a variation of battleline with a single objective in the middle which may or may not have a big nasty in it!

There’s a bloody big river of light going through the centre of the table (in fact it went through 2 or 3 tables!). I start to build Hadrian’s wall on my side, whilst Jordan does some dark rituals or whatever he does that constitutes a battleplan. I really don’t know what I am doing here. I figure I will wing it. His only real threat is the Knights and gateway.

Go. I do my pew pew thing, kill some pups and pony boys, take a chunk out of the Knights, and other such nonsense. In response, Chaos does what Chaos does. Looks at me all menacing like. Game starts well for me shutting down Gateway first turn and getting rid of chaff. Like flies to rotten meet (a distant fond memory for my fella’s) we all start converging on the objective.

The mid game was um, eventful… I continue to do what I do best, and shoot stuff. I throw 2 dice at smiting and roll a double 6. Heh. Not uncommon, but I declare to Jordan that since I rolled double 6 on only 2 dice that I will follow it up with a double 1. God damn it curse my luck I double 1 the result. Yeah. You know whats coming. I follow it up with a failed “fall in the hole roll” and my Hierophant goes off visiting his nana. S**t starts falling apart, but thanks to my super strategic plan of winging it, most is near the general and tests on Ld 9. I loose a scatterpult and some horsy archers. Some other stuff happens during the mid game but I hang in there consolidating on my general.

In the closing parts of the game Jordan is unable to capitalise on GW’s poor book writing skills. I feed him some chaff when he makes a push into my mobile fortress. I’ve made a tidy house and cleaned most of the board of all his crap. He’s got 2 blocks of infantry left. I decide to throw a hail mary and make the move into the objective to fight the possibly maybe it’s a big nasty dragon… We open the envelope and I can only laugh when it says it is empty, the only empty one out of a dozen or so tables.

Game is wrapped up with a convincing win to me despite loosing my glue stick.

Game 3 – Ogres – Graham Robb

Scenario: Castle… erm… I mean meeting engagement…

Lets get one thing clear to start with. I hate Ogres… Worst matchup ever. Between the ‘I’m immune to your killing blow crap’ to underpriced ‘look at my lil’ donkey’ riders there is nothing fun about it. Let us not even mention anything about the ‘best cannon in the game’… Stupid Ogres.

So we do the setup thing and I start pulling some shenanigans. I pull out all my lego bricks and build me a castle! Yay for tactics. Graham builds a battleline typical of ‘push em forward and bash em’ tactics Ogres play so well into to. I manage to reserve my Tomb Guard, not good. Graham looses a unit or two to reserves as well, a Giant I think, but nothing important.

Graham goes first and surges forward. He manages to break his uber cannon first turn. So a good start for me TK. I spend the first turn trying to take care of his chaff and moving my TG into a manageable position. I throw a lot of shooting into his maneaters. I am facing a block of Ogres to my right, supported by a Giant and Maneaters, firebelly + Ogres in the centre, with Ironguts BSB, General and Ironblaster to my right. There is some donkeys running around as well.

With his maneaters reduced to two, I execute a carpe diem and throw my chariots into them. They destroy the Ogres on impact and overrun into the Giant who subsequently gets annihilated in the following combat phase allowing my Chariots to reform towards the rear of the 9 Ogre Bulls. With the aid of smiting I reduce the Bulls down to 3 in one phase. Then in my next turn turn the chariots charge the remaining bulls and overrun into the firebelly unit. I still havn’t lost one wound! All the while I am refusing my left flank.

So the closing stages of the match see me break the firebelly unit on the charge, but they manage to run away and rally. On my second charge I manage to kill him and the unit and line up the rear of the next unit, a rather menacing unit of iron Guts full of hitty characters that has lined up my TG. I soften it up a little with shooting but it makes it into me near full strength. A lil magic and some fruitful rolling by Graham and my TG are below half strength. As Scooby would say, rot roll… last turns magic phase I roll low, but thanks to the casket I get about 7 dice to 2. I draw out the dispel dice and proceed to 1 and 2 dice buff the TG and regenerate the ranks by 12 or so models. The chariots have made it in the rear and I cut down the to a man(ogre). It cuts and runs, is caught and games done.

MVP are 3 bloody chariots. Who would have thought! They where responsible for about 2000 vp’s! 20-0 vs ogres and I damn well beat them in combat! Still. I hate Ogres. Silly silly Ogres…

Game 4 – Lizardmen – Mal Patel

Scenario: Battleline – Objectives 3/2

Death by a thousand paper cuts… It is Mal’s war cry. An army full of skinks, but its still a favourable matchup for me at any rate. This game proved to be amusing for all the wrong reasons.

Deployment sees us castle up in opposite corners. Mal sacrificed a couple of units on my left to gain some deployment advantage, where as I committed to one corner early knowing full well my strength vs the skink hoard was concentration of firepower. I had to make it that if Mal wanted any VP’s he had to come get them, and by doing so realise he would loose whatever unit he chose to get them. There are three objectives deployed along the centreline of the table, with one randomly disappearing mid game. Each is worth 400 vp.

The initial phases of the game consisted of me exchanging my superior ranged firepower with Mal’s magical onslaught. When I say magic onslaught I mean meteor bombardment! I clean up a razordon and a skink unit he sacrificed with chariots and shooting in the early phases.

In the middle stages I try getting the casket to chain up some units, and catapults start finding some good ranges. I am rewarded with sending a few units of terradons to their graves and pushing Mal further into the corner. It’s still raining. Raining meteors… I’m finding this match very amusing. I defiantly feel I am in control of it and Mal seams to only be reacting with the few tools he can. Both of us realise any commitment will see a bloody mess of dead skinks. We roll up to see which of the three objectives disappears and its (predictably) the one in my corner…

Not much to say really. I pick off a Saurus Scar vet and some more terradons. I’ve started pushing the centre to hold the objective. I have no chance of the one on the far side to me. Mal throws a lot of dice at final transmutation? to try and kill off my TG. I respond by pumping them to heal them back up. We end the game with one objective each and a decent victory to me by 500 odd vps. Oh yeah, Ive lost nothing. Chalk up another victory for the Tomb kings

Game 5 – Daemons – Mark Otley

Scenario: Battle for the Pass

I find myself in a familiar spot again at the top of the table, but this time playing battle for the pass! Iv’e never played this scenario in a tournament before. I hear it’s favourable. Upon seeing Marks list, a very fast Slaaneshii dominated list including a ‘my little pony!’, its about the best setup I could think of. TK match up daemons very well and the scenario gives me the range advantage I need.

So I build my castle deep inside my half, whilst mark sets up as close as he can. I figure turn 3 or 4 for combats. I aim to push it out to turn 5.

We start by Mark moving up in controlled fashion, and me letting loose with anything and everything in range. I snatch a chariot for my troubles. A skirmish war is held on my left flank between the horse archers and flamers. A little help from the chariots cleans them up. Mark has Horrors anchored on an Arcane ruin helping him generate a butt load of dice.

With the Daemonic blob within striking range now, I finally manage a good hit on the Keeper of secrets killing him with a catapult. I smite volley a unit of daemonettes into oblivion leaving me horrors and the other deamonettes to deal with. Yeah, shooty TK love to play daemons!

Moving into the late stages of the game the horrors pick off my chariots with magic missiles, whilst I clean up the other daemonettes unit with my Tomb Guard. My Stalkers finally decide to pop up and I pick a spot behind the Horrors. The stare at the Horrors but Tzeentch must have been extra tricksy that day as they managed to roll up 2 misfires and a 6. The 4+ ward save lets them shrug it off. However the last laugh is mine, as turn six I charge the horrors with the two remaining stalkers and in Marks last turn they manage to kill the Tzeentch herald.

Damn close to tabling the Daemons, and as everyone knows, that’s a damn good feeling. Only topped by tabling Skaven with all their toys… So this win secures me top step on the podium. Chalk up another Tournament victory to Tomb Kings.

What am I doing wrong? The Interwebs tells me Tomb Kings are rubbish. I must not be using them right…

So next up is the Masters in December. An invitation only event for the top 12 players in the country in a no holds barred shoot out for top spot. The one positive thing I have going into this event is there will be no bloody Ogres!

Even Hermy is coming up for a spin…