Goblin Wolfriders vs Tomb King Army 2000pt battle report

warhammer fantasy map report :-

"The Shaman and his boys rallied and hid behind the hill, like the gibbering cowards that they are. The other Shaman, free to march, swung hard down the left flank and made a beeline for the Liche on horseback."

(featuring an experimental Goblin Wolfrider army !)

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : Xtapl

12-May-2009

Hey, boss, the goblin squeaked, battered old spyglass pressed against his eye, "I see somefin' movin' over dere."

Gimmee, Warboss Nutzkikka growled, snatching the spyglass and peering into the distance. Through the grimy lens, he could see a horde of undead constructs shuffling slowly toward them. In the center of the lines, a massive golden altar was being dragged by a giant comprised of animated bones and golden plates.

Ooh... Warboss Nutzkikka murnured. "Shiny. Let's go get some."

But, boss, the goblin saddled next to him squealed, pressing closer to his wolf, "They'z dead things."

Well, then, dat just makes 'em easier ta kill then, don' it? He chuckled maniacally as he pressed his heels into the flanks of the massive wolf he was riding. The canine let out a melancholy howl, which was soon joined by dozens of others, and the wolfrider patrol sped off to claim its prizes.

******************************

So, for the last few days, I have been curious about the all-wolfrider list. I've been wondering if it's still viable, or if the removal of the extra characters and 2-for-1 chariots spelled the doom of the list as competitive. For giggles, I built up a list, went off to my favorite online server, and threw down with some guy from Poland. My list was:

2000 point Goblin Army List

Warboss (167)
LA, Shield
Martog's Best Basha
Amulet of Protectyness
Horn of Urgok
Wolf

Shaman (147)
Level 2 (rolled Brain Bursta and Hand of Gork)
Scroll
Nibbla's Itty Ring
Wolf

Shaman (127)
Level 2 (rolled Foot of Gork and Hand of Gork)
Scroll
Wolf

Big Boss (139)
Chariot
LA, Shield
Wollapa's One Hit Wunda
Brimstone Bauble

20 Wolf Riders (324)
Full Command
Spears and Shields

15 Wolf Riders (240)
Full Command
Spears and Shields

10 Wolf Riders (172)
Standard and Musician
Spears and Shields

10 Wolf Riders (172)
Standard and Musician
Spears and Shields

5 Wolf Riders (83)
Short Bows
Boss and Musician

5 Wolf Riders (83)
Short Bows
Boss and Musician

5 Wolf Riders (83)
Short Bows
Boss and Musician

Wolf Chariot (60)
Wolf Chariot (60)
Wolf Chariot (60)

2 Spear Chukkas (70)


The enemy's list (from memory) was approximately:

20000 points Tomb Kings Army list

Tomb King
Terror Mask
Flail of Skulls
Light Armor and Shield

Liche Priest
Horse
Heiratic Jar
Dispel Scroll

Liche Priest
Casket
Dispel Scroll

Liche Priest
Staff of Ravening

20 Skeletons w/ Banner of Summoning Stuff

2 Tomb Swarms

Tomb Scorpion

Bone Giant

5 Ushabti

5 Light Cavalry

Not the toughest list I've ever seen, but the Casket and the big unit of Ushabti were worrysome, as was the Bone Giant. Lots of Fear and Terror, which is awesome when your whole army can't stand up to a strong breeze without running for their lives in abject horror.

Deployment looked like this:



I went with the classic "KYSOOTM" deployment: keep your sht out of the middle. Send strong contingents down both flanks and hopefully sweep into the middle later. Unfortunately, he only gave me a unit of Light Cav on the right flank to play with, and that meant a good chunk of my points were out of position. Fortunately, my whole army moves 18" a turn and is largely Fast Cavalry, so redeploying wouldn't be too much of a burden.


I pushed forward pretty aggressively, because I figured I couldn't wait for the Tomb Kings to come to me. Plus, what's the good of having all that M9 if you're not going to use it? Even better, no animosity nonsense first turn. Gotta love that. I took the risk of exposing my shamans early by placing them on the hill as well. If I could get a couple of key spells off earily, I could wipe out the Casket before it became a bother. Besides, I had two dispel scrolls packed away, so I knew I was safe from at least one turn of Casket nonsense.

The Tomb Kings pretty easily swatted away my magic phase with dice and a scroll for good measure. The shooting phase was slightly more successful as, despite Goblin BS, one Spear Chukka managed to skewer the Bone Giant, slamming him for three wounds.

First blood to the Goblins.



Charge! The Light Cavalry came crashing into my Wolf Riders on the right flank, although the Goblins were scared sh'tless, and would be hitting on 6s. The rest of the Tomb Kings pressed forward. I was able to stave off most of the Tomb Kings' magic, although a timely magic missile took down three of my Wolf Riders and sent them and the Shaman running. Irritating. Fortunately, he had already used his dispel scroll to stop the Ushabti from charging me, and the other scroll was used to silence the Casket. Dang. Turn one, and I had already burned my scrolls.

Despite taking a few casualities, the Wolf Riders won combat against the Light Cav. Not bad for a bunch of weedy gits on dogback.



Animosity finally reared its ugly head, with one block of Wolf Riders squabbling in place. The rest of the Wolf Riders decided to CHARGE! Both huge blocks went into the Ushabtis on the stout Leadership 8 of the Warboss. The Shaman and his boys rallied and hid behind the hill, like the gibbering cowards that they are. The other Shaman, free to march, swung hard down the left flank and made a beeline for the Liche on horseback.

With only one Shaman in position to cast anything useful, the magic was pretty easily dispelled. However, shooting was much, much more eventful, as a handful of short bows + short range + lightly armored mage = dead Liche Priest. That much less scary magic to worry about.

The Warboss took down one Ushabti by himself, while the entire rest of the Wolf Rider units bounced. Yes, bounced. All of them. In both units. And the wolves, too. Not one single goblin or wolf besides the Warboss did jack squat. In return, the Ushabti carved two wounds into the Warboss (stupid Amulet working *against* me this time), and the rest of the Ushabti made short work of 6(!) Wolf Riders from the smaller unit. Even with the heavy casualties, the Goblins won combat.

Out on the right flank, the Wolf Riders proved too vicious for the light cavalry, and they crumbled to death under the weight of numbers and wounds.



From beneath the sand of the hill, a giant Tomb Scorpion emerged and barreled into the flank of the suicide goblin. Fortunately for me, the Tomb Swarms misfired, and ended up crushed beneath the sand. One less annoyance to worry about.

I was able to dispel most of the truly heinous stuff, like moving the Bone Giant into combat, but that meant I had no dice left to stop him from healing the Bone Giant back up to full, or to stop the Casket. I thought to myself, "Okay, well, it's only three units that will be affected. I can deal with that."

Only one wound on the chariot. That's good.
Six wounds on the first Bolt Thrower. Boo.
Four wounds on the second Bolt Thrower. Boo.

That Casket has to GO.

The Scorpion went after my Big Boss, which kind of made me giggle at the thought of him blowing up and taking the Scorpion with him. Alas, the Scorpion only put one wound on him, and he held tight. The Warboss was not so lucky, as he put one Ushabti down, then was prompty dispatched by the undead constructs. The smaller wolf unit continued to take a beating, but the Goblins managed to get rid of yet another Ushabti, and win the combat again. So that's right, math fans. Over 600 points worth of Goblins cannot get rid of 300 points of Shubbies. Even with multiple turns to get it done, rank bonuses, standards, and outnumbering. Irritating.



CHARGE! Wolf Chariot to the flank of the Tomb Scorpion ought to do the trick like a big ol' can of Raid. I thought I'd be able to take care of the Bone Giant this turn, too, but the wounded Chariot had other plans, failed its Terror test, and turned tail and ran for it. I also needed some help with the Tomb Kings' magic users, so the small unit of Wolf Riders came rushing across the lower field, carefully (and cowardly) making sure they couldn't see the accursed Casket. I started bringing the chariot around from the right flank, while the bigger unit of Wolf Riders out on the right decided Operation Be Not Victory Points was in order, and took their own sweet time securing the table quarter. I brought both shamans around to face the Casket, hoping that a magical barrage would silence it quickly.

But a barrage wasn't really needed. All that was needed was one Irresitable Force on a Hand of Gork, and the Shaman's wolves slammed into the Casket, Liche, and guards. This freed up the other shaman to do a whole bunch of nothin'. The wolves tried to plink a couple of shots off the Bone Giant, but to no avail.

The Wolf Riders continued to beat on the Ushabti, and take serious casualties in return. The Shubbies took off the rank bonus of the biggest unit this turn, but the Wolves still won combat and held. Meanwhile, the Shaman accepted the Liche Priest's challenge, and it was a little girls' slap fight that ended in embarassment for both sides. Meanwhile, angry wolves tore the casket guards to shreds, and the Tomb Kings crumbled under the weight of CR. Another Liche bites the dust. Word. The overrun wasn't enough to get into the Heirophant, however, which was disappointing.

Up to the north, the Wolf Chariot careened into the Tomb Scorpion for a rousing 7 impact hits, and the construct was dust almost immediately.



So far, so good for the Gobbos, right? Pretty well have the game in hand? Now, let's play, "But You're Using Goblins!"

CHARGE! The Bone Giant hit the flank of the Wolf Riders. The Heirophant heard the pattering footsteps of Wolves coming to gobble him up, and broke from the trees into open ground. A failed dispel attempt (love those double 1s!) allowed him to activate his Cloak of the Dunes and get the hell out of Dodge. He floated away and joined the King in the relative safety of the skeleton unit.

The Bone Giant didn't do a ton of damage, killing only two Wolf Riders. He didn't need to, however, as the Ushabtis were handling business just fine. I lost combat by 1, which, when you're LD6, is pretty much a death sentence.

Now, everybody wait for it. What's going to happen now? If you answered, "All hell breaks loose," you would be correct.

Both Wolf Rider units fled, directly through my chariots. Suicide Gobbo hangs on, but the other chariot turns and flees like its on fire. Pretty much to be expected, right?



Except that it doesn't stop there. Nobody rallies, and they all continue to bolt for it, with two units running off the table and another nearly joining them. To top it all off, Suicide Gobbo fails his Terror test and runs off the table as well. Oh, and to top it all off, despite WAAAGHing on their Animosity roll, the block of Wolf Riders fail their Terror test to rear charge the Tomb King's unit, and flees as well.

Awesome. Then I miscast and ended the magic phase, because Goblins RULE.

Meanwhile, the two shamans and the third unit of Wolf Riders all line up short bows and pepper the Bone Giant down to only one wound. That was, at least, a bonus.



Not much happened in the Tomb Kings' turn. Just some maneuvering, him either forgetting to charge the fleeing Wolf Riders or bizarrely choosing not to, and a bunch of dispelling.

Top of my Turn 5, guess what? Three unit of Wolves rally! Go musicians! Then, of course, the Shaman's unit fails its Terror test against the Giant and takes off running.

In retribution, my Shaman Irresistable Force casts Brain Bursta, and takes the last wound off the Bone Giant, dropping him to dust.



Bottom of the fifth, he charges his Ushabti into my Wolf Riders again, and turns his Tomb King's unit around. I do a pretty decent job of dispelling most of the magic. The Ushabtis make quick work of the Wolf Riders and chase them off the table.



Top of the sixth, my Shaman flees off the table. Not only that, but the small unit of Wolf Riders fail their Terror test, and take off running, too. Not much other action, as I just whittle away at the King's skeletons.



Last turn sees his skeletons fail charging my Shaman's unit, then me using my considerable three dice of dispelling power to stop him from getting that movement spell off on his King's unit.

So, at the end of the game, he had his King, Heirophant, and 17 skeletons left on the table. I had one Shaman, one unit of 5 wolf riders, both units of 10 wolf riders, and two chariots left. And that, my friends, it what it looks like to snatch a draw out of the jaws of victory. He didn't beat me; Goblins beat themselves. I had a major victory in the bag, and then Leadership took over, and I the draw was the best I could do.

Frustrating.

The army was a LOT of fun to play, though. I thoroughly enjoyed them. I didn't even mind the Animosity too much. It's the LD6 that's the killer for this build. LD6 + 3d6" flee distance = lots of points running off the table. Bleh.