Warriors of Chaos vs Dwarfs 2000 points

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-

"I should have forced him to charge me ?!" (more a synopsis than a report, key lessons learnt)

source : bugmansbrewery.com

credit : redbeard

26-Dec-2008

So, I'm playing in this mini-campaign, with some odd rules. The big one is that you have to spend gold to have access to magic items (for heros - warmachines can have runes). However, since the end-of-campaign scores are based on your gold pool, I'm playing like a true dwarf and hording my gold, so my characters aren't upgraded...

I played against a Chaos Undivided army tonight, and made a couple of bad decisions that cost me the game. Here's what happened.

Dwarfs Army list

Runelord w/ Anvil (light blue)
BSB (also, light blue)

2x 10 Thunderers (brown)
15 quarreller-rangers (green)
Organ Gun (white)
2x Cannons (Orange) (both RoForging, 1 RoBurning)
2x Bolt Throwers (Yellow) (Engineers, 1x RoPenetrating)
15 Long Drong's Slayer Pirates (Red)
Dragon Slayer (with pirates, also Red)
15 Miners (Not pictured)

Warriors of Chaos Army List

Chariot (teal)
Chosen Knights (Blue)
Lord on Daemonic Mount (With Knights)
Aspiring Champion (With Knights)
Hellcannon (Red)
2x 15 Chaos Warriors (Light BLue)


We rolled for terrain placement - I placed two hills and a swamp (pond), he placed a building and a forest.



Here's what deployment looked like:



OOOOPS!

Mistake 1: I was preoccupied with the hills that I neglected to take lines of fire into enough account. Part of this is my background in [warhammertag1]40K[/warhammertag1], where I'm used to being able to shoot through quite a bit more forest. But, I didn't have nearly enough turns to hammer with the guns before the chosen knights became a serious threat.

In retrospect, I would have been in much better shape had I deployed on the right side of the field, giving up one of the hills, but having a lot more open space between the two of us. Still, this would have been [warhammertag100]OK[/warhammertag100], if not for mistake 2.

I don't have pictures for turn-by-turn stuff, because the turns weren't that interesting... Early shooting took out his chariot. My cannon missed his, his hit mine, then the miners showed up and killed off his cannon, but were pretty decimated in the process, and weren't a factor in the rest of the fight.

The rangers hung out, march blocking the knights, far enough in the woods that they couldn't be seen. Eventually, the chosen knights ended up an inch from the rangers. I had to decide, get charged next turn, or charge this turn. I figured, I have great weapons, I swing first... and charged. MISTAKE 2!

The rangers killed no one, lost 10, ran, and got cut down. His pursuit left him right in front of my slayer pirates. And then he got his turn, and charged them, and killed a bunch, and Long Drong, and my Dragon Slayer killed no one in return, but hung out, and then the next turn, he killed the rest of them, and then he got another charge against the organ gun crew, and essentially rolled through all my guys....

What went wrong here? I charged his knights, giving him the pursuit into my super-shooty pit with his knights getting a move before I would get a chance to shoot them. I should have forced him to charge me. The end result (dead rangers) wouldn't have been any different, but I would get a full turn to shoot his chosen, with the combined fire of 30 pistols, 20 thunderers, 2 bolt throwers, 1 organ gun and 1 cannon, and then another 30 pistols as a stand&shoot, if they survived...

Yup, I skillfully seized defeat from the jaws of victory.

Key lessons learned:
1) Don't give your opponent the opportunity to get extra movement on your turn.
2) An open line of fire is more important than sitting on a hill...

Beasts of Chaos vs Dwarfs 2000 pts

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-

It's so often about the static combat resolution (a quick game & a quick read !)

source : bugmansbrewery.com

credit : redbeard

25-Dec-2008

Played another game in my campaign tonight. After losing my last game, I cut back on my shooting attack a little, and ran a fully-kitted unit of longbeards instead. It was worth the change.

Dwarf Army List

Runelord w/ Anvil
Thane w/ GW, Shield
Thane - BSB

22 Longbeards, Full Command, RoBattle
25 Warriors
10 Thunderers
15 Long Drong's Slayer Pirates
2 Cannons (1 RoForging, 1 RoForging, RoBurning)
2 Bolt throwers w/ Engineers (1 RoPenetrating)
1 Organ Gun

Beasts of Chaos Army List

Doombull w/ 7 Minotaurs w/ GW
4 Minotaurs w/ GW
4 Minotaurs w/ GW
10 Centigaurs
3 Screamers
1 Spawn
A whole lot of beastmen in a herd, with 3 level 2 wizards

I don't have time to do the fancy graphics right now, but it was easy enough to describe.

I have a hill in my right corner, so I deploy in a refused flank castle on the right. There's a large swampy marsh in the middle of the right-half of the table, and little other terrain.

I have both cannons and a bolt thrower up on the hill, thunderers in front of the hill, longbeards to their left, slayer pirates angled to their left, with the warriors behind the slayers, and the organ gun and non-runed bolt thrower filling gaps on either side of the longbeards.

My opponent has his doombull on the far right, then the herd, then a block of 4 minotaurs, then centigaurs, then four more minotaurs, with the spawn and the screamers behind the minotaurs a bit.


Beasts of Chaos - turn 1
He goes first, moves everything up. Casts some spells - I let him get a magic missile off on my thunderers and lose 3, but stop everything else. (That would be the last spell successfully cast all game.)

Dwarfs - turn 1
I advance my longbeards and pirates, and then I shoot some stuff. Kill 2 minotaurs from the doombull's unit, the screamers (they lost 1 to shooting and 2 to instability) and one beastman.


Beasts of Chaos - turn 2
The centigaurs charge Long Drong, and 4 minotaurs charge my longbeards. His other stuff just moves up. Long Drong's unit stands and shoots, dropping 2, they lose a couple dwarves, but kill another 3 centigaurs in combat. He doesn't run. The minotaurs kill 4 longbeards, take a couple of wounds, and break under the +7 static CR. They run, the longbeards chase, cut the minotaurs down, and slam into part of the beastman herd. They turn to align with the beastmen.

Dwarfs - My turn 2
There's not a lot to shoot at, as a lot is tied up in combat. I drop another 3 minotaurs from the doombull's unit, so they're down to 3. Long Drong's unit drop another centigaur, lost a guy, combat ties. The Longbeards kill 3 beastmen and one of the wizards that was running with the unit. The herd kills one longbeard. They break and run, we catch them, and overrun into the flank of the doombull's minotaurs.


Beasts of Chaos - turn 3
The chaos Spawn joins the combat against Long Drong. His last unengaged minotaur unit cannot get into this fight due to the location of a terrain piece, and so have to wait for the centigaurs to die. Which they do, but the spawn kills another couple of the pirates. The longbeards, however, have it easy, killing the one minotaur they're in contact with, and again, pummelling the beasts with static [warhammertag25]CR[/warhammertag25]. The doombull's unit flees, and again, is cut down.

Dwarfs - turn 3
Mostly maneuvering to avoid the last block of minotaurs from overrunning Long Drong. Shooting kills the one minotaur that we can see. Long Drong himself is killed by the spawn, but his mates kill it off. There's now 6 of them left, still holding my flank.


Beasts of Chaos - turn 4
The last 3 minotaurs charge the 6 remaining slayer pirates. They stand and shoot, inflicting 2 wounds. The minotaurs only kill one more pirate, and the 5 other pirates hit them back for a wound or two. Realizing that, with great weapons, my slayer pirates will be swinging first from then on, and facing almost my entire army still alive, with only 2 minotaurs, he surrenders the field.


Battle Summary Comments
I've tried a lot of different configurations in my various games, and I really like the way this one played. Even though my shooting didn't actually cause a whole lot of wounds this game, it provided a psychological edge that forced my opponent's hand perhaps a bit more than he would have liked. Combined with my Runelord, who was able to completely shut down his magic phase, and had no option but to try and get into combat as soon as possible, even where the matchups weren't in his favor.

I had a bit of luck with how my longbeards turned to match up with the beastmen herd that they overran into, but that was one hard-as-nails unit. Putting both my thane and [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13] in the unit, along with the runic standard, and they were going to town on everything they fought. With me rolling well (or perhaps, my opponent rolling poorly for running away), they ran down three units in two turns!

Long Drong's Slayer Pirates rocked. They held their flank all game, taking three separate charges, and inflicted serious hurt on the units that charged them in the process. Taking a stand&shoot reaction with 15 pistols is oddly a lot of fun.