Game 4 – Chaos Warrior’s – Hamish Gordon
Scenario: Watchtower
Day two started with
me facing another Chaos Warriors army. The draw had gone up the previous day so
we all had the night to prepare for the second days first match. The scenario
being watchtower, one of my armies favorites.
Hamish’s force
consisted of two large units of Chaos Knights. These will be enemy no.1. If
these things got into my lines it would ruin my party. They where backed up by
a block of Khorne Warriors, a block of Tzeentch Warriors, A Sorcerer Lord on
Disc, BSB, Hellcanon, and Festus. Interesting. Although the list lacked the
usual War Altars, it did have an interesting combo with Festus passing on his
5+ regeneration roll. The Disc lord was taking Tzeentch lore, and Hamish rolled
Gateway… A spell that I did not want to see.
Hamish won the roll
off and occupied the watchtower with his Khorne Warriors, something I was
hoping for. I could easily shoot these guys out within a few turns and take the
tower in the later stages of the game. The rest of Hamish’s force was split up
on either flank of the tower, with both knight units on my left, and his
Tzeentch block to my right. The Hellcanon went centre with the Lord, presumably
trying to hide from my catapults.
I deployed my forces
to hard counter the tower, as it was worth 600vp for this game. Khalidas
archers went centre with catapults and caskets to the rear. My knights held my
right flank and the horse archers went left to get in the way of the Chaos
Knights, and knowing I automatically had first turn, I deployed one unit 12”
away from both of them.
A plan? Shootem of
course! I would start with Khalida shooting the tower, caskets and Ushabti
target the Knights, catapults hit the Helcannon or tower, and Knights hold the
right threatening the Tzeentch warriors flank if they advanced into the tower.
The horse archers would simply get in the way as they should. I decided on some
priomary targets and secondary targets for all units to maximize the potential
impact. I liked the plan, as long as I could contain and deal with the Chao
Knights.
Turn one starts well.
I predominantly hold back as I only need to make centre table which I can do in
the later stages of the game. My Necroknights angle it up and I show Hamish my
hand early with them as I want him to consider the threat to his flank. Magic.
Well. I roll up a good number of dice and 2 dice an irresistible light of
death, which targets his knights, killing 4. It then bounces to the other unit
and takes three of them. Hamish shuts down the next casket, but not before
smiting goes off on the Ushabti. Khalidas archers remove a bunch of Chaos
Warriors from the tower. The Ushabti add their weight to the turkey shoot,
targeting his Lord on Disc. They chip off two wounds and the catapults manage 3
wounds on the Hellcannon. One is not in LOS so he drops a rock on the Disc
Lord. I get a direct hit but Hamish saves the wound with his 3+ ward. Good
Start!. Hamish charges into his first turn and hits the horse archers who where
so conveniently angled infront of his Knights. There killed and he overruns out
to the far right thanks to my redirect. His tower lads cant do squat this turn
thanks to the scenario, but the Tzeentch boys shuffle over towards the tower.
His Disc Lord goes and hides behind the tower, but remains 24” from my
Necroknights. Hmm, wonder what he is planning… Yup. Gateway on the
Necroknights. But I am having none of this, and throw all my dice at it and
dispel it easily. His Helcannon then manages to put 2 wounds on one of my
catapults.
After a great turn one
start I feel I am in a good position. I stick to my plan and move another horse
archer unit into assume a redirect position. I get the angle happening on my
Knights a little by moving them half an inch backwards, just to force Hamish to
expose his Disc Lord. I move the Ushabti up towards the tower as I plan on them
occupying it after Hamish looses it. Yes I am that confident at this point. A 6
dice vs 2 magic phase sees me get another casket off on the Knights, reducing
one unit down to one model, then bouncing to the other and leaving three in it.
The other casket targets the tower, whilst Hamish try’s shutting down smiting
without success. In my shooting phase Khalida targets the tower this turn with
smiting in effect, and with the help of a catapult, leaves 1 warrior behind.
The Ushabti target the 3 Knights and kill two, leaving Hamish with 2 units of 1
knight. The other catapult misfires and cant shoot this turn. Hamish now bails
from the tower, presumable trying to save VP’s. I believe he will try and take
the tower later in the game with his Tzeentch warriors. He also pulls back his
now one man Knight units to attempt to get them out of range of the caskets.
His lord dosnt take the bait but gets himself well out of LOS. In his magic
phase he targets my other catapult with a nurgly spell (I forget which one) and
targets my full health catapult. It’s a stonethower type shot and manages to
clip and put two wounds on the other catapult. His Hellcannon misses however.
As turn three rolls
around I take the tower with the Ushabti. This I believe was a mistake, as I
have a tendency to enter the tower too early, however there was so many
tempting targets and I wanted to deny the Tzeentch Warriors the
opportunity. Khalidas band moved up into
range of the Tzeentch duders, as my Knights failed their charge into his flank.
In my magic phase I try my hand at caskets again. Hamish shuts down the first
but the second goes off. Ive targeted the knights again but this time he makes
his Ld test. I get a smiting off on the Ushabti which then turn Hamishes Disc
Lord into a pin cushion. Heh. These guys are great! Khalida makes a small mark
on the Tzeentch warriors but both catapults miss their mark this time. Hamish
now charges the building with Festus and his Tzeentch Warriors. His knights run
away some more and the Hellcannon stays put. In his magic phase he double6’s on
two dice the stone thrower spell again but it scatters wide. The miscast has no
I’ll effect on him however as regeneration saves the wound. His Helcannon has
better luck and kills a catapult. The Tzeentch Warriors now make their mark,
accounting for a couple of Ushabti, with me loosing a further one from Combat
res.
Turn 4 starts with the
realization that I may have committed to the tower to early, as is usual for
me. I figure they can hold for one more turn then I will swap them out for
Khalidas Archers. I will also position the Knights in a batter place to regain
the flank as a backup plan to pin the Tzeentch Knights and deny him the
watchtower. My horse archers are off chasing the Chaos Knights and the last
Khorne warrior who had run and hid behind the Helcannon. The Ushabti Kill one of the Chaos Knight
units off and Khalidas archers take there toll on the Tzeentch warriors. Hamish
then charges into the tower again and rolls very well. He takes 3 Ushabti out
with the last two crumbling after they fluff most of their attacks. Hmm. Not
good. Hamish has just managed a 1000 vp swing in his favour and likely tying up
the game at this point.
So turn 5 sees me
reassessing the situation. I was not expecting the Tzeentch Warriors to gain
the tower on turn 5. My Necroknights where now of no use in this fight so then
plowed on ahead to tackle the Helcannon, as if I couldn’t remove the Warriors
out of the tower, I would need all that I can get. I used a casket to pick off
the last Chaos Knight and try for smiting, which is dispelled. The other casket
makes itself felt on the watchtower. My last catapult targets the tower causing
a few casualties, and thanks to flaming, negates his regeneration. Khalida then
maks a big hole in the warriors and reduces the number down. Hamish still holds
the tower and its going to be down to the wire on turn six. Theres not a lot
Hamish can do in his turn, with the helcannon missing the Necroknights and
magic being of no I’ll effect.
Last turn! By my
figures the game is sitting on a narrow win for me based on vp’s as the tower
is worth 600 in this scenario. However, I know I need a big win to keep me in
contention at the top of the table, and keep any chance of a podium finish. With
this in mind I did not believe a charge by the Necroknights would wipe out the
Warriors in the tower. I had to rely on magic and shooting, meaning I could not
capture the tower for my own. Instead the Knights charged the Hellcannon. I
rolled up a respectable number of dice and threw everything I had at the tower.
Khalidas staff, 2 caskets and a smiting all got through making a serious dent
into them. Shooting had me use the horse archers to clean up the last Khorne
Warrior netting me much needed vp’s. I shot the catapult first netting me some
kills, and more importantly no regeneration. The 10 man unit was next and
managed to snag a warrior, reducing the number to less than 5 rank’n file.
Khalida was up next, and thanks to smiting, easily accounted for about 24
wounds, enough to wipe out the unit. The game then ended when the Necroknights
finished off the Helcannon in combat with a plethora of poison hits. Hamish
finished the game tabled but nobody held the watchtower.
17-3 to Khalidas
Archers!
This game really
showed how well Khalida could perform in the right situation. It is a stark
contrast to the game against Basils VC where she accomplished nothing. Skittle
of the match defiantly goes to the Casket of Souls! They accounted for both
Knight units (with a little help from the Ushabti) and caused a ton of damage
to units occupying the watchtower. Hamish’s Ld 8 did not help him in this
respect. The Ushabti once again bagged themselves another Chaos Disc Sorcerer,
proving their worth and gaining them a honorable mention. I did make the
mistake again committing to early to the watchtower. This cost me a 20-0 win
and lost me the Ushabti. I was to worried about Festus and his unit gaining a
foothold into the tower and completely forgot that my catapults (I only had one
left at this point) where flaming and would essentially ignore him. Still I
gained another Disc Sorcerer scalp so it wasn’t a total loss. Hamish’s list I
think was the stronger of the two vs mine based on the greater speed and higher
armour overall. The lack of War Alters didn’t seam to be missed at all with his
force. The win was enough to put me into 2nd overall and a face off
with current board leader Sam Whitt! He had just narrowly beaten Tom Dunn’s
Daemons this round in a very tooth and nail fight. It was boiling down to being
a fight between us three for the top step.
Game 5 – Orc’s and Goblin’s – Sam Whitt
Scenario: Battleline
Sam had forgotten something this
tournament. He had forgotten his Chaos Dwarfs! I was so looking forward to
Khalida turning his K’daai into the biggest pincushion in the old world! Alas,
Sam had changed it up and bought along his other love, (Savage) Orc’s and
(Night) Goblin’s, complete with Big’Un Bus and more chaff than most could
handle. Some people really underestimate how well an OnG list can perform with
the right hands at the helm. I know this first hand as I campaigned last year
with a similar list to what Sam had made and got a 1st, 3rd
and 5th with them at tournaments.
Worst case scenario his Savage Orc Big un’s
make contact with Khalida. Best case I get 3 turns of roasting them with
poisoned archers.
Sam had 2 Wolf chariots, a Boar chariot, a
lone troll and another mob of 8, 2 manglers, a pump wagon, 2 rock lobbers, 2
doom divers, 3 bolt throwers, a large mob o Night Goblins and or course his
Savage Orc Bus, or SOB. He complimented this all with an Orc Warboss, Savage
Orc Shaman (L4), Night goblin shaman and Black Orc BSB. Damn that’s a lot.
Sam won the roll off for sides and chose
the one with the big building half in the deployment zone. There goes that
idea. I liked the thought of Khalidas archers holing up in there if things got
rough. It was big enough that I probably could have got 25-30 shots per turn.
After deployment the table looked favourable. His SOB was behind the building
in the centre right, with trolls on the right. He had most of his chaff on the
left and opposite most of my stuff. I held the centre with my Necroknights, and
deployed Khalida and her archers, the Ushabti and the 10 man archer unit on my
left. Both of us deployed artillery to the rear with Sam taking care to set up
his Doom Divers out of range of my Catapults. My horse archers had deployed
normally to try and get a more favourable deployment. I win roll off for first
turn and we get underway.
My first turn started with little in range
of Khalida and her archers. I shuffled the Necroknights more towards my right
envisaging Sam sweeping through the middle of the board with his trolls and
SOB. This way I would be able to threaten his flank meaning he would need to
deal with the threat, hopefully giving my archers more time to work their
magic. I ran 2 of my horse archers up my right to threaten the doom divers for
a turn 2 charge. I used a casket to try zap a doom diver, and the other to
chain up his chaff which is mostly out of generals Ld range but both got shut
down. Smiting went off on the Ushabti, which in turn shot a mangler off the
table. Sam informs me that his manglers have not made it to the enemy all
weekend. I was determined not to be the first. I also shoot up a snotling pump
wagon and land a direct hit on a rock lobber killing it and ending my turn. Sam
moves his SOB into the building, and pushes all his chaff forward. This is a
target rich environment! The trolls bumble forward to the right flank of the
building along with his boar chariot. Sam rolls up a few dice and in great Orcy
fasion, declares a BIG Foot of Gork! With only 2 dispel dice I use my scroll
early to stop it. Sams doom divers and a bolt thrower account for one of the
horse archer units, whilst his rock lobber misses.
Turn two sees me with plenty of targets. My
only real moves are to charge a bolt thrower with my remaining horse archer
unit on my right, and another bolt thrower on my left with the other unit. The
Knights shuffle over more close to the table edge. Magic rolls low and I only
get off Khalidas staff, zapping the other mangler. Khalidas unit takes care of
a lone troll and the Ushabti make little impact this turn. I do land another
direct hit on the other Rock lobber. That’s 2 for 2! The horse archers take
care of their bolt throwers and line up a doom diver on my right, and overrun
into a wolf chariot on my left. Sam charges his night goblins forward into my
10 man unit of archers that I had pushed to far forward. They get wiped out in
combat. Sam then drops his SOB out of the building bringing it into range of
Khalidas archers. I figure I can get 3 turns of shooting into it then finish it
off with the knights all going to plan. Magic rolls low again. Sam throws all
his dice at Hand of Gork and gets enough, requiring me to roll an 11 on 3 dice.
So I roll a 9… and the SOB moves across the board 13” infront of khalidas
archers. Ok so maybe one turn of shooting… Sam has some fun with the shooting
phase using his DD’s take care of the other horse archer unit. The trolls move
up supported by the Orc chariot.
Oh crap. I am in trouble. I start turn
three with that heavy sinking feeling. I need to pull one out of the bag and
quick. I play around with reforming and moving back but in the end it would
just be delaying the inevitable and denying me a chance to shoot. I reform into
a wider formation and move 2” back forcing an 11” roll for the SOB. My Ushabti
cut across and cover my right flank from the night goblins, and my Hierophant
bails out the left side. I toy with the idea of charging the rear of the SOB
with my last horse archer unit, but Sam points that since I can’t flee he won’t
need to pursue. I get 12 dice in the magic phase vs 6. I cast light of death on
one of the Doom Divers to try bait out some dice. I get two, so I cast the
other and get some more, but this light of death gets through and I take out
one of the Doom Divers. I then get off smiting on the archers but Sam slams it
with a scroll. Desiccation also gets shut down which was targeted at the SOB.
In my shooting phase I manage to get both catapults on target, both scattering
slightly but remaining true. Khalida opens up and all of a sudden Sam is left
with 15 Savage Orcs + characters. I have to hope for a failed charge and
another round of shooting will see me right. Its now Sams turn and he declares
his charges, and the dawn of realisation washes over me as I see the huge
mistake I made… Khalidas archers are indeed 15” away from his SOB, however he
only needs an 8 to make contact with the Ushabti, and the ensuing overrun will
hit my archers. Crap. He rolls the 8 required and brings in the Night Goblins
for some netting goodness. The trolls are moved up as is the Boar chariot. Sam
works with a few dice and gets Hand of Gork off to move the trolls over. The
Ushabti are crushed in combat and crumble allowing the overrun from the SOB
into Khalida. The Night Goblins hold and reform.
Turn 4 comes about with a tense situation.
The archers could still hold out for the rest of the game. I look at ways to
see how I could flank the SOB with the Necroknights, but Sam has placed the
Night Goblins well enough to prevent this. I instead charge them. There is
little other movement to be made so we move onto magic. I roll a respectable
number of dice and start casting with light of death on the other Doom Diver.
Sam lets it through so I cast smiting on the archers again with Sam also
letting this through. He dispels desiccation on his SOB though. I get the 5+
ward happening to even up the field. My catapults launch into shooting taking
out the boar chariot. The other one misfires and destroys itself. We move onto
combat with Khalida going first. The combat is slightly skewed with Sam only
having 8 models in contact thanks to the overrun. I use my champion to
challenge which Sam accepts with his. We both fail to kill each other with me
not wounding, and me saving the only wound inflicted on him. Khalida kills 3 or
4 Savage Orcs, and in return Sams characters make short work of several
skeletons. The Savage Orcs and Skittles then strike simultaneously with my 5+ ward
really coming into itself. I end up inflicting 8 or 9 wounds which Sam only
manages to save 2, whilst I saved over half with some tinny rolling much to
Sams disappointment. I end up winning the combat by a few but thanks to the
crown Sam is stubborn on 9’s. I reform to a deeper formation and so that all of
Sams orcs are in combat. Oh yeah, the Necroknights steamroll the Night goblins
but they hold. So Sams turn 4 starts with little fanfare, as he only has trolls
free to move, everything else is either dead or in combat. We move onto magic
where Sam gets through itchy nuisance on my skittles reducing me to I1. My
Necroknights destroy the Night Goblins which flee. I elect to pursue which will
lead me into combat with the trolls. I need the VP and risk the combat to catch
the Goblins, which I do. We move on to the main combat where Khalida makes
herself known again and smacks over a bunch more Savage Orcs. Having the frenzy
beaten out helps a lot, with the volume of attacks greatly down as is the
strength. His characters make up for what the unit was lacking including the
champion besting mine in the dual, but I reply with over 40 attacks! Sam is
left with a wound on both his BSB and L4 Shaman, and only 2 or 3 Savage Orcs
remaining.
Turn 5 would be our last, as time was
running out. We both have no movement at all as we where locked in combat, so
magic first up. Another ok phase dice wise. This time however Sam is on the
money with his dispels. He shuts down everything bar smiting on my archers. We
roll around combat in which Khalida finishes off the last few Savage Orcs. Once
again Sam bashes a bunch of skittles into powder but cant with the combat. The
trolls have more success vomiting on my Knights. He gets 4 wounds and I loose
the combat taking another wound. Not so bad, but I would have preferred some
magic buffs. In the last turn there is not much to do. Sam has 6 trolls and his
3 Orc characters left, two of which are wounded. His magic phase was low and
was easily shut down, as Sam had only one spell that he could cast. I move
Khalida over to face off his Savage Orc Shaman which had been wounded. With
lightning speed Khalida dispatches her rival with little effort. The rest of
the skittles have little effect on Sams characters, but once again Sam makes his
stubborn check. The trolls have more success killing another Knight, and
forcing enough combat result to crumble another. The game ends with a victory
in my favour.
15-5 to Tomb Kings
Now this was a hard fought battle. I really
thought Sam had me on Turn three. He managed to shut down the right spells at
the right time and push through the ones he needed. Baiting out my scroll first
turn was a good move. I made several mistakes in this game. The first was using
my horse archers offensively to attack Sams artillery. I did this thinking that
Khalidas archers would be able to deal with Sams SOB over the 3 turns he would
need to cover the gap. I didn’t count on Sam getting a Hand of Gork off! Lesson
learnt, stick to the plan. The horse archers primary role is to get in the way
of threats to Khalida, and I needed to stick to that. My next big mistake was
moving the Ushabti forward to block the Night Goblins. I didn’t need to do this
and it very nearly cost me the game. In fact I will go as far as saying this move
cost me an 18+ victory. I know at the time I was ensuring covering Khalida from
the night gobos, but did not see the obvious until it was too late. Skelly of
the match is a hard one. The catapults did great this match, accounting for
much artillery and a chariot. The caskets had a good hand in drawing out dispel
dice which allowed me to get though the right spells, and Khalida pretty much
saved the day by killing a bunch of Savage Orcs and Sams Shaman. So it goes to
Khalida, even though I only got one real round of shooting off. This game
marked the first time I had used the archers in combat, and it turn out ok. But
only just
With the 15-5 result that put me on the top step, shared with Tom Dunn and His Daemons. We both finished with 74 battle points, 25/25 for sports and full marks for painting. Tom had a great final game finishing with a 20-0 win to share top honors. Sam finshed 2nd, after holding the limelight for most of the weekend, and almost putting to bed the day to jitters he suffers.
Thanks to Wellington Warlords for hosting the event and Peter Dunn for Umpiring. Good weekend by all and even the news channels turned up. (Like the good little wargamers we are, we all went and hid from the cameras whilst volunteering an unsuspecting fellow gamer for an interview!)
