Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-
"Freed from the confines of its earthly existence, the Dragon soared over to sit at the end of my long line of Thunderers." (plain, simple, informative battle reporting)| source : bugmansbrewery.com | credit : Karzaki_Darstok | 08-Jan-2009 |
Had a really enjoyable game against a sterling opponent this saturday. I fear it was a bit of a bad matchup for him, but we had fun anyway. I'm currently trying to fine-tune my tournament army. Here are the lists (I'm a bit vague on what he had, wargear wise):
Dwarf Army
Runelord w/ Anvil of Doom, Shield, MRoBalance, RoSpellbreaking, RoStoneThane BSB w/ MRoGromril, RoFury, RoCleaving, RotFurnace
19 Longbeards w/ FCG, RoStoicism, RoBattle
25 Warriors w/ FCG
12 Hammerers w/ FCG, Shields, RoBattle
10 Quarrellers w/ Shields
10 Thunderers w/ Shields
8 Miners
Bolt Thrower w/ Engineer, RoPenetration
Organ Gun
Gyrocopter
Chaos Army (Hordes of Chaos edition 6)
Lord w/ Mark of Khorne, Armour of Damnation, DragonHero w/ Mark of Khorne, Crimson Armour of Dargan
Hero w/ Mark of Khorne, wargear unknown
12 Warriors w/ Mark of Khorne, Additional hand weapons
12 Warriors w/ Mark of Khorne, Additional hand weapons
12 Warriors w/ Mark of Khorne, Additional hand weapons
16 Beastmen (half and half, no command)
5 Warhounds
5 Warhounds
Deployment
He deployed his warrior units in an evenly spaced line with fairly spacious gaps in between them, I'll refer to them by their positions (left, middle and right). He also put his two dogs units behind the woods, one on the extreme right flank and the other ready to go around the other side. The beastmen took the extreme left flank to move up behind a hill and the Dragon went behind a wood on the right.
My units deployed deep, Hammerers faced off against the beastmen with the Quarrellers to their right, angled slightly inward and with the Anvil behind them. The organ gun deploy to their right with the Warriors next in line. The bolt thrower sat in between the Warriors and the Longbeards in roughly the centre of my board edge. The Thunderers deployed opposite the wood on the far right, angled slightly inward. The Gyro sat in frot of them, pushed as far forward as it could go.
We then rolled for first turn and he took it, which was fine by me as it would mean I had range with all my guns.
Turn 1 - Chaos
Predictably uneventful. Most units moved their maximum march move forward, being keen to get to grips woith my line. The dogs on the right moved up as far as they could without going into the woods (the gap was slightly too narrow for them and warhounds do not have the fast cavalry rule to allow them to squeeze through). The dragon moved right up to sit behind the wood, facing it.
My opponent made his first mistake here with the dragon. Angling it the way he did meant it was effectively blind. Facing it inward to overlook the van of his army would have made it more difficult for the Gryo to match-block him.
Turn 1 - Dwarfs
I was looking forward to a juicy shooting phase, but had to be patient as there was some important movement to be done first. The Gyrocopter pilot swallowed a bravery pill and landed next to the dragon, march-blocking the Dragon, right warriors and the inner-most dogs and safe from counter charges. I knew he'd have to take a terror test, but was willing to take that chance, I made sure that the angle of flight was safe from any cross-fire nonsense if he scarpered.
In the shooting phase, the Gyro broiled two warhounds. The Thunderers killed two dogs in the other unit, forcing them to run off the table. All other shooting weas concentrated on the central unit of warriors, it was reduced to five men. Pretty good if I do say so myself. Finally, the Runelord struck the Rune of Wrath and Ruin, targeting the Dragon, primarily to prevent it from flying but causing a wound as an added bonus.
Turn 2 - Chaos
Once again, keen to close the gap and get fighting, my opponent's infantry marched as quickly as it could straight up the middle, apart from those units that were march blocked. The Beastmen, wary of the Organ Gun, stayed behind the hill. The Dragon turned its attentions to the Gyrocopter, using both breath weapons but failing to cause any wounds.
I was happy to let my opponent keep his Dragon out of sight behind the wood as it meant I could concentrate more of my shooting on the warrior units. As long as I kept it from flying my line was fairly safe from the marauding monster.
Turn 2 - Dwarfs
A little more movement this turn, the Hammerers shuffled forwards to a point just outside the Beastmen's charge range. The Gyro, after having passed his terror check, moved into a more central position to steam some warriors and march block almost the entire infantry line (all but the unit that had been march blocked the turn before, keeping the line nice and even).
This time my shooting managed to reduce the centrasl unit to just a champion and also reduced the left warrior unit as well. Unfortunately the Runelord's arm wavered and he mistruck the Rune of Wrath and Ruin, but he'd be okay for next turn.
Well, I could have done without the Anvil misfire, but all told not too bad a turn. The one thing I could have done differently was to move the Hammerers forward to receive the Beastman unit sooner, as they were sure to bounce. However, at this stage I had no idea what was in the unit, so caution won out.
Turn 3 - Chaos
Freed from the confines of its earthly existence, the Dragon soared over to sit at the end of my long line of Thunderers while pretty much everything else (except the right warrior unit) was march blocked. The dragon's breath attacks took a mighty seven of my Thunderers down, but the remaining few passed their panic check without recourse to the Old Grumblers rule.
Turn 3 - Dwarfs
This turn was likely to be critical. Target priority would be the key to unlocking certain victory, provided everything worked as it should. First of all, the Gyro headed off to thin out the Beastman herd and give them an alternative charge (one that I would likely escape, therefore keeping the beastmen out of combat for an additional turn). Secondly the Hammerers shuffled back a bit, making the Beastman charge just that little bit iffier, especially if I could kill off some of the Gors with steam. Last, but far from least, the Longbeards reformed to ensure the dragon was in their frontal arc, just in case the Runelord forgot himself again. By the way, the Thunderers passed their terror check.
The steam took down three Gors and an Ungor. The Beastmen passed their panic check. The Organ Gun, too far away to touch the Dragon, unloaded on the left warriors unit but misfired. The minor malfunction would not prevent it from shooting next turn. Instead, the Quarrellers took up the slack, killing four. The Bolt Thrower also opted to go for this target, reducing the unit down to the hero. The three Thunderers killed another warhound causing the last one to flee. It would be unable to rally due to being under 25%. Once again the Runelord prevented the dragon from flying, but it was bearing down on the poo thunderers.
I was still not overly afraid of the dragon during this turn. The worst it could do in the chaos player's turn, had my Runelord not performed his duty, was charge the Longbeards in the font or the Thunderers in the flank (and an overrun would then have carried it into the front of my Longbeards). I knew that even a Khorne Lord on a dragon would struggle to hold out alone against the ranked up unit of Dwarf veterans, especially as my static resolution was 7). Often the sight of this kind of monstrosity scares a player into making mistakes. With the Anvil of Doom to help me out I knew that it was only so much use, so I wasn't falling for any psychological tricks.
Turn 4 - Chaos
Things were looking grim for the infantry line as they advanced through a hail of bullets and quarrels. The Beastmen, after briefly considering the Gyrocopter, plumped for the Hammerers instead and were found to be in range. Likewise, the central warrior champion was compelled to charge the unit of 25 ranked up warriors in front of him. Meanwhile the Dragon moved 6" towards the longbeards but was still too distant to hurt them. He opted instead to breath on the Thunderers, reducing them to one doughty dawi, who stoically passed his panic check. The right warriors unit would be in a position to charge the Longbeards next turn.
In combat, the Beastmen took two Hammerers down before losing four of their own number to the greathammer-wielding bodyguards. They ran, easily escaping the Dwarfs, who were stopped in their tracks by a Khornate hero jumping up and shouting "Boo for the Blood God!" The lone champion tried his best to kill a Dwarf, unfortunately by this point he was too frnezied and all his attacks went wide. Being such a big scary warrior it was plain that my boys didn't want to go anywhere near him, so we won on static resolution alone to send him packing. Again we failed to catch him, but he wouldn't be coming back so was removed from play.
In hindsight, it was probably extremely foolish to pursue as the warriors opened themselves up for a probable flank charge from the last remaining unit of chaos warriors. However, it proved to be a turning point of the game. My Longbeards would otherwise have got those warriors in the face along with a Dragon Lord, whereas he just couldn't resist that juicy looking flank...
Turn 4 - Dwarfs
Not much happened in this turn as my Dwarf Warriors were now blocking line of sight to the last remaining Chaos Warriors unit, and they didn't have nearly enough movement to get themselves out of the way. I think I also forgot to turn this unit, but again, that played in my favour in the long run. The only events of note were the Bolt Thrower putting a wound on the Dragon, who was again prevented from flying, and my Hammerers losing combat with the Hero. Basically, he challenged and I failed my leadership test for the Crimson Armour, he then tore the champio a new one with plenty of overkill and won the combat. My Dawi stoically passed their stubborn break test (just imagine if my roll for the Crimson Armour had actually been my break test - that would have hurt).
Turn 5 - Chaos
The right warriors unit couldn't pass up the flank charge, from which I tentatively fled, hoping we'd escape. I rolled a 5 and we carefully measured the warrior's wheel. The dwarfs escaped, barely, meaning it was a failed charge. The dragon moved in to breath on the Longbeards, killing four. In combat, the Khornate hero finally folded and fled. The Hammerers held position.
In my opinion the dragon and warriors should have ganged up on the Longbeards here. They probably would have won, netting them 468 victory points and two captured standards. The last turn might have been uneventful as they would likely have pursued off the table, but it might have prevented the massacre to come...
Turn 5 - Dwarfs
Finally my Miners deigned to arrive, lining up behind the dragon lord. Everyone that had to test passed their terror checks and the warriors rallied. The Longbeards turned to face the dragon. In shooting, the Organ Gun opened up on the warriors, destroying the whole unit after I rolled up 10 hits and all of them wounded. The quarrellers missed the lone hero, fleeing for his life, but the Engineer had his eye in and skewered him with a perfect long range hit. Finally the Anvil was struck once more, this time with the Rune of Oath and Honour, spurring the Longbeards into combat with the Dragon. The Thane directed his attacks at the Lord, but due to the Armour of Damnation he failed to hit. The Longbeards, however, managed to put a wound on the dragon, making my final resolution up to 7. In return, the Dragon and Lord had some appallingly average rolls and only managed to kill three in return. Testing at -4 on Ld 9, the Chaos Lord fled only to be destroyed by the Miners.
With that done, the game was over and only dwarfs remained on the board.
I don't think I've every had such a comprehensive massacre, except maybe once or twice. I think I made a couple of small errors, but not as many as my opponent, who was limited in his response, but could have pulled a turn 5 coup-de-grace to my longbeards with a bit more forethought. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable game and my opponent didn't much mind the result, this was after all a fairly poor matchup for him. Post game the store manager said that Khorne vs Dwarf shooty armies was usually a foregone conclusion, but I didn't think I had a particularly shooty force, it's just that my rolls were probably a little above average to usual. That combined with the anvil makes for a devastating game.
