The Glorious Victories of Khazbar the Magnificent (Beastmen)

In a series of three posts, I'll be looking at the army lists of my opponents in Group A of the competition (link takes you to lists), evaluating the army and then trying to work out how I would win the scenarios in their shoes. As only Bluke reads this forum and isn't in my group, I think i'm quite safe to do this.

Fair warning to readers, this will be quite long, wordy and is really for me, so if you have no real interest in reading my list musings I'd stop reading now and no offence will be taken! I also originally wrote this for my blog so some of this will be obvious to forum users but not all my followers are fantasy players hence some bits state the obvious!).

The first of these posts will focus on the Dwarven Throng of Martin H. Now I will state, straight off the bat, that Martins original list was partly re-written by Steve (my co-adjudicator) to make it 'comp legal' and then refined my myself to replace the most glaring uncompetitive elements (e.g. remove Brimstone cannons on the Gyros), fixing the odd clash of items (having both Great weapons and Runic Weapons on a character, when you can only use one) and adding additional artillery runes. Martin was very happy with the choices so kept with the revised list. So what was the composition?


Characters

Dwarf Lord (General) - MRo Gromril, Oath Stone, GW, 3*Ro Warding - 251pts

I like this lord. He is very defensive with a 1+ armour save and 4++ ward. He also pumps out 4 ASL, Str 6 attacks. Giving him an Oath stone is clever as it means his unit,  if charged in the flank or rear, never lose their rank bonus and still get their parry saves (which would be 5++ in the first round due to shieldwall). The downside is he has to accept challenges but with his saves, that shouldn't be an issue. They also cannot flee as a charge reaction (as if Dwarves would) but this isn't an issue for this list, as none of his main units have that option anyway due to immune to psych'. If I take a lord I always struggle not to put him on shieldbearers, if only down to the extra wounds (and I love the model), so it will be good to see how this works out.

Thane (bsb) - Gromril armour, shield, MRo Valaya - 158pts

A fairly standard bsb with 3+ save. The banner adds to the inbuilt dwarf Magic resistance and ensures they will dispel at +4 (so they will match or exceed all enemy cast bonuses from the wizard level). It has an added bonus of allowing you to dispel all 'remains in play' spells on a 3+, crucially without using dispel dice (and also without checking the rulebook, I believe it occurs out of sequence, so at the start of the Dwarf players turn. This means it can get rid of items that might impact movement). Suffice to say this is one of my favourite runic banners (who am I kidding I like all the Master Runes)

Runesmith - Gromril armour, shield, Ro Stone, Ro Spellbreaking, Ro Passage - 103pts

Again there is nothing surprising in this build, not that it makes it any less effective. A 2+ save with auto dispel rune. The Ro passenge allows his unit to avoid taking dangerous terrain tests but has mainly been taken as you can't have duplicate rune combos (though it won't help with the wicked woods scenario). The great passive effect of the Runesmith is he gives his unit AP. When you are packing all Str 4 troops this is essential for beating armour saves (as combined gives a -2 to armour saves).

Runesmith - Gromril armour, shield, Ro Stone, Ro Spellbreaking - 93pts

A carbon copy of the above but without the Ro Passage. Each of these will be placed in a different unit as the AP effect doesn't stack.


Core

28 Longbeards - Full Command (FC), shields - 394pts

This is a solid unit of elite dwarves. Immune to psychology so they can't flee as a reaction (and ignore fear etc.) 4+ save with T4 makes them reasonably defensive and they have the numbers to stick around. My only issue with them is I've found them to lack punch against really tough armoured opponents.

28 Longbeards - Full Command (FC), shields, Ro Stolicism - 429pts

As above but the banner rune makes them stubborn, so no matter what they will always take any leadership test on at least a 9 (or 10 if in range of the general). This means they will hardly ever run and will have to be killed to the last Dwarf.

28 Longbeards - Full Command (FC), shields, Ro Stolicism, Ro Sanctuary - 444pts

As above but with an additional rune (again due to the runic item duplication restriction) that gives Magic resistance (1). This means that against direct damage spells their save improves by +1 (to 3+).

10 Quarrellers - standard, GW, Heavy armour - 150pts

A small unit of shooters to protect the warmachines and shoot up enemy chaff. The standard allows them to capture/score in many of the scenarios and the Great Weapons gives them Str 5 in combat as standard.


Special

Gyrocoptor - Steam Gun - 80pts

Gyrocoptor - Steam Gun - 80pts

The Dwarf chaff unit and I still rate this as one of the best chaff/harassment units (if not the best) in the game (the others being Dark Riders, Razorgor & the Ogre Cat). It is the ability to fly, drop bombs when marching and the template weapon that make me rate it so highly. The drawback is, I often find it so useful that I don't actually like using it as a throw-away unit, which is why I labelled it also as a harassment unit. The price puts it more in line with a chariot than a true throw-away unit such as the Razor or Cat.
 
Cannon - Ro Forging - 145pts

The compulsory cannon. Given forging to reroll misfires. This will be deadly for my Doombull and is a priority to eradicate (or try to distract it with chariots).


Rare

Organ Gun - Ro Forging, Ro Accuracy - 170pts

Ah the organ gun. You know it, you love it (if a dwarf) or hate it (if you are on the receiving end). With runes it will cause between 2-20 Str 5 AP hits. Hitting on a 3+ at short range, 4+ at long, rerolling one misfire dice. The 30" range is what sets it apart and makes it superior in my eyes (and even before runes are taken into consideration) from the hellblaster. This thing can be deadly and I need to find a way to neutralise it. At the very least, a wall of Ungor Raiders, will provide hard cover for my units giving the OG -2 to hit. Not having an engineer in the list to help buff it works in my favour.


List thoughts

Ok, above I stated my issue with Shieldbeards are that they can lack punch. However with 3 such units and the synergies with the Lords oathstone, the banners and AP from the Runesmiths, it becomes more of a game of attrition with the dwarves blunting the initial attacks and then grinding the enemy down. It is very dwarfy and could be very effective, especially if enemy units were first softened up with shooting. They also have the advantage of hitting my blocks on a 3+ vs my 4+ back at them, though they will normally only wound on a 4+ (as will my Gor). The Bestigor will have the advantage in this though as the GW's will wound on a 2+ and will ignore the armour save.

However, in general, he has 3 slow combat blocks. I have plenty of chaff that can be used to slow them down. I can see Razorgor being used to assassinate his runesmiths. The Harpies will have to target the cannon as a priority and the Doombull the Gyro's. The chariots will be used to distract the cannon (hopefully!).

With only 8 drops to my 10, I'll have the edge on him and with the scenarios, he won't be able to castle (probably why he has the rarely seen 3 combat blocks).

Not having played him before I have no idea of what he is like as a player. I do believe last year he used a horde with the banner of the holds on his BSB, which is the first time I've seen someone take that. He does seem to take lists that are not considered 'the norm', something I really like.


Scenarios

So if I were using this army, how would I try and win each scenario?

Full details of the scenarios are here but I will give a small recap of the objectives of each.

1. Eliminate

You place 3 bounty tokens on the 3 most expensive units from either core, special or rare (excludes lord/heroes embedded). You get 2 points for destroying the opponents and get 1 point for yours that survive. A final objective is placed in the centre of the board. His 3 bounty tokens will be on his 3 combat blocks. Mine will be on: the Gor horde: the Bestigor horde: One of my Chariots (Yikes!). Thankfully he picks the chariot before deployment. This means I will place this out of range of his cannon and as far away from his troops as possible and will play hide the chariot. The Doombull can start near it, to intercept any pesky Gyros.

With an additional token in the centre of the board, it makes sense for his 3 blocks to start centrally ready to 'surge' (ok shuffle, they are dwarves) forward to capture that if possible. With poor movement they can't start too far away. He will likely try to soften up my forces first with shooting. I will definitely be trying to flank his forces with one of my blocks and will try and deploy on one side of the board (on the opposite side to the OG). If he's smart that side will have the unit with oathstone.

2. Dawn Attack

The table is divided into quarters. 1pt given for each of yours, 2pts each for your opponents side. You need to have the most fortitude in a quadrant to capture it.

This is an issue for me as he has more. He has 4 separate units with fortitude and can add the bsb and general to increase the units fortitude. This makes it likely that he will hold one quadrant with his shooters (art + quarrellers), another with his other blocks (he could have it so his fortitude was 3 in one quad and 4 in the other). He could then advance to capture one of mine.

The most I can manage is one block with fort' of 2 (banner + bsb) and one with a fort' of 3 (banner + general). However I look at it, I'm at a disadvantage and will have to destroy a number of his blocks to win (or try and pin them into just one quadrant). In theory the quarrellers is the weak link. As with everything, deployment is key. Using his blocks size and movement against him.

3. Invade

This is played lengthways and you need to get more fortitude into your opponents half. My speed gives me a bit of an advantage, however the narrow width means his shooting will be far more deadly and as soon as I get in range, the organ gun could punish me. The saving grace on that is that he will have to advance his troops early to ensure he can move into my half and they may block his lines of fire with careful placement. Although I'd love to hang back and intercept and destroy his blocks in order to avoid his shooting and then advance to his half, if he times his advance to my side well and with the stubborn nature of his blocks, it would be a huge gamble.

4. Secure

You get one point per piece of terrain you hold (it's double if in the opponents side). Again I'm at a disadvantage as, to quote Starship Troopers, "it's a simple question of numbers, and they have more". Unless I move my General or BSB into each Ungor Raiders unit (highly risky but you never know as it could turn a defeat into a victory or at least a draw), the most I can capture is two bits of terrain vs his four and so will definitely need to advance to capture terrain on his half whilst destroying any fortitude units I encounter on route (are you noticing a trend here?). I'll have to almost treat this as a battleline game but make sure I'm in scenery at the end. Thinking about it, the general in Ungor is looking more attractive, despite the drawbacks (and this tactic could also be used in the Dawn Attack scenario).

5. Loot

3 tokens placed, one in the middle and the other 2 on the central line, at least 12" apart. The player who holds the most wins. Logic dictates I need to spread them out across the table rather than have them all on one side, as that will favour Martin, especially with his unit advantage and low movement. I should also consider going only 5 wide on both units as I want to grab two counters fast and hold onto them, so steadfast will definitely be useful. Chaff will be key to holding him up. The Ungor trick might be viable if one is uncontested on the far side but will have to watch out for the Gyros.

If I had the dwarves, would I play the odds game and send a block for each token or would I concentrate on two, using artillery to cover the others? I'd probably use the blocks to capture 2 of them and if unopposed try and sneak the third with my quarrellers.

6. Wicked woods

With the modified rules we are using for this (you get one point for each turn you control them), holding the woods is key and moving into it early is essential. You have to hold it for at least 7 player turns (of 12) to ensure a win. The key will be to move as much chaff forward as possible to obstruct his blocks at every turn to maximise the turns a unit is in it. Everything not in the woods becomes sacrificial, whether chaff, doombull or Bestigor.

The question becomes if he has practiced the scenario and whether the damage that the wood causes will put him off moving in early.

In the final post of this series, i'll take a look at the final competitor in Group A, Luke C and his Dark Elves. Luke has been using Dark Elves for a number of years and I know often attends the Hockley tournament with Dan so will be a tough player to beat.

I actually played Luke for the first time recently with both of us using our respective competition lists (write up in an earlier post), so we both have an idea already about the other one. His use of chaff was an eye opener and i'll have to be careful not to make the same mistakes again.

The entry restrictions were changed between us playing and the final submission and so the below list, although similar, contains a few changes.

Characters

Dread Lord (General) - Lt armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Endurance, Cold One - 246pts


His general is well protected with a 1+, 5++ save. The Ogre blade boosts his Str to 6, covering the only shortfall in his stats. His attacks will be flaming if in the cold one Knights, so maybe I can use that against him.


Supreme Sorceress - Power Scroll, Talisman of Preservation, Dark Steed, Lore of Life - 320pts


Life is generally a defensive Lore and helps shore up the elves natural frailties. The exception is dwellers. That spell is based on a Str test so I have a better than average chance of resisting it, especially with the banner boosting the Str of my Gor. One thing I must do is dispel Throne of Vines when he casts it. That for me is a priority as it will reduce the effectiveness of everything else and mean he can suffer miscasts. Like Alistair, he has taken a power scroll which halves the cost of a spell cast when used. This could allow him to push through Dwellers when I'm not expecting it!

She is also likely to be bunkered in one of the riders units which will mean that is unlikely to have chaff duty.


Death Hag - Rune of Khaine, Cauldron of Blood, Obsidian Blade - 390pts


The rune gives the hag +D3 attacks each turn. This is on top of her 3 standard (+1 for frenzy) ASF, armour ignoring (due to her weapon) attacks. The cauldron then gives her and the unit a 5++ save (or 4++ vs magic missiles). The cauldron bound spell gives the unit an additional attack, so the hag could have between 4-8 and the witch elves up to 4. Generally all kinds of filth.


Master - Lance, Heavy armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Cloak of Twilight, Dark Pegasus - 188pts


Im going to call this his trouble shooter/assassin. With a 1+ save and boosted toughness (4) and wounds (3) due to the mount, he is quite defensive. The lance and cloak give him a good alpha strike at Str 6, ASF, killing blow and D3 wounds in the first round of combat. The mount adds to this, as also gets +1 Str on the charge. If I could get a charge off onto him with the Doombull it would help as he would only be Str 4 so I'd still get a 2+ save, killing blow wouldn't work on the model and he wouldn't get rerolls due to my i10. The D3 wounds are still a worry though, especially if he charges me as my save then becomes 4+.



Core

5 Dark Riders - Musician, Standard, Lt armour, shield, Spear, repeater xbow - 120pts


5 Dark Riders - Musician, Standard, Lt armour, shield, Spear, repeater xbow - 120pts


5 Dark Riders - Musician, Standard, Lt armour, shield, Spear, repeater xbow - 120pts


Luke has already shown me that he uses these guys to great effect and completely blocked me from moving/charging on my first turn. I'll have to learn from that error. He is also partial to putting them in a conga line (as do many others). Something I refuse to do out of principle as I dislike doing things I feel are too 'gamey'. It's why you will never see slayer darts in my lists. If it could give me a bit of a handicap, so be it. This time the units are actually armed with the crossbows he says they are.


27 Witch Elves - AHW, Full Command, Razor Standard - 372pts


With between 2-4 ASF poisoned, initiative 6 attacks, these ladies could mince through my units. The saving grace is their strength 3 requires a 5+ to wound, however poison, augmented with the rerolls to hit, could help bypass this entirely. On top of that they can reroll 1's to wound. This is one of the reasons the unit combined with cauldron is so feared in combat.

They can be frenzy baited but with the bsb in the unit, it reduces the likelihood.


The razor standard isn't a biggie as almost nothing in my list has armour (which is why poison is such a pain as it negates my one defence - toughness).

At the other end of the scale, they are standard, T3 squishy elves and aren't the only ones with rerolls to hit. The cauldron does give them a 5++ ward so they aren't entirely defenceless but like my troops offence remains their best defence.



Special

9 Cold One Knights - Full Command, Lance, Heavy armour, Shield, Cold One, Banner of Eternal Flame - 310pts


These are some of my favourite GW sculpts. And bar a few early 90's Marauder models are the only Dark elves I own. They suffer from all the flaws of elves and Cavalry in general, relying on the initial charge to damage and armour saves to survive the grind afterwards. The cold one mounts help with this but could also hinder due to stupidity (though with the general in the unit this is highly unlikely). My Doombull does rock a 2++ ward vs fire based attacks so could cause all sorts of issues for this unit. However, my Ungor Raiders held up the unit for almost 3 turns last game, so there are a number of options for dealing with them.


23 Har Ganeth Executioners - Full Command, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour - 306pts


With T3 and a 5+ save, they will fall over to a stiff breeze. However as with most dark elves, they are all about the offence, as shown in my last report. The great weapons will prevent their rerolls, but S6 will ensure they wound on a 2+ in most cases and high initiative will see them striking first. The killing blow skill will make almost no difference to me as I have very few multi-wound non monstrous models and no armour.



List Thoughts

Not much has changed since we last fought. The big changes are the Doomfire Warlocks are gone, due to the wizard level restrictions. In their place comes the Master on Dark Peg'. Smart deployment to prevent his previous game dark rider shenanigans will be key, together with knowing what I need to do to win the scenarios. His executioners unit is quite small so should be reasonably easy to cut down to size.

Scenarios


1. Eliminate

His bounty tokens will be placed on: Witch Elves, Executioners and the Cold One Knights. My will be on my Gor, Bestigor and a Chariot.


So if I were Luke, what would I do? As normal, the chariot is my weak link. The Dark Peg could easily take it down but then a unit or 2 of harassing Dark riders also stand a high chance of doing so through massed shooting and there isn't a huge amount I can do about that. Perhaps place the chariot in the opposite corner to my troops with the flank guarded by screening Ungor (the other flank by a table edge). Make it so shooting is through hard cover or else they risk a chariot charge. Again vs the Peg, the Ungor would form a screen and at least the peg would be out of the way for a turn. I could also start my doombull there if necessary but he could have better uses (it would depend on other deployment). I could also use the chariot as bait...


His witches will be gunning for any of my units in the knowledge that they should beat them in a straight fight. I'll just have to use chaff to block them so if they charge they will overrun to an unfavourable location (trying to get a flank of course).


His Knights will be wanting to avoid the Bestigors at all costs as their numbers and weapons will give them the edge.


His executioners would take a heavy toll on either of my units but my numbers should see me through in a 'fair' fight.


From my side I want the Bestigor in his Knights and Gor into the executioners whilst holding up the witches.


This game will ultimately come down to chaff. Who can use it the most effectively.


It is also a game where I will want the Bestigors in bus not horde formation (though perhaps 6-7 wide).


Potential secondary mission choice - “Cut off the Head” – Kill the Enemy General in hand to hand to hand combat by the end of the game. Any mount does not need to be killed. An Enemy General fleeing at the end of the game does not count.



2. Dawn Attack

The table is divided into quarters. 1pt given for each of yours, 2pts each for your opponent’s side. You need to have the most fortitude in a quadrant to capture it.


This is an issue for me as he has a shed load more fortitude. He has 6 separate units with fortitude and can add the bsb and general to increase the unit’s fortitude (to a max of 9).


His General will likely be in the Knights (for a fort' of 3, but he could move to a under strength rider unit to boost it). The BSB will go in the witches to give that a fort' of 2.


3 of the units with standards are Dark riders, making it essential that I kill at least 1 model off them as it will drop them under scoring strength (and hope there is no regrowth). This is essential as their mobility will allow them to steal quadrants. If I can target the one that perhaps bunkers his Mage it would be an added bonus.


The most I can manage is one block with fort' of 2 and one with a fort' of 3. So this will be an uphill struggle.


Potential secondary mission choice - “Take a Message” – Specify a model in your army to be a messenger. Specify a fortitude-bearing unit in the enemy army that contains your spy. Get your messenger model into contact with the spy’s unit. If the spy’s unit is alive at the end of the game your mission has succeeded. The messenger model does not have to be a character model.



3. Invade

This is played lengthways and you need to get more fort' into your opponents half. This will likely end up as a battleline fight. Although taking my units in horde would effective block a chunk of the table, due to his sheer damage output and higher initiative, bus formation will likely be better for me (at least with the Bestigor - though it will be 6-7 wide).

The Doombull may have to play backfield to catch any darkriders that slip through.


Potential secondary mission choice - “Raid the Baggage” – Have more Fortitude bearing*** Friendly units in the Enemy deployment zone, than the

Enemy has Fortitude bearing units in this deployment zone, at the end of the game.



4. Secure

You get one point per piece of terrain you hold (it's double if in the opponents side). Again I'm at a disadvantage as unless I move my General or BSB into each Ungor Raiders unit (highly unlikely but you never know as it could turn a defeat into a victory or at least a draw), the most I can capture is two bits of terrain vs his 6 and so will definitely need to advance to capture terrain on his half whilst destroying any fortitude units I encounter on route (are you noticing a trend here?). I'll have to almost treat this as a battle-line game but make sure I'm in scenery at the end. Thinking about it, the general in Ungor is looking more attractive, despite the drawbacks.


Potential secondary mission choice - “To see what I can see” – When you write down your mission also specify one hill or building that is outside of your deployment zone. This piece of terrain is the tallest in the area and will give your general the advantage in spying troop movements. If, at the end of the game, you have a unit *** occupying that terrain feature and no enemy units occupy**** that terrain feature as per the rules in Scenario 4 (Secure), your mission is a success.



5. Loot

3 tokens placed, one in the middle and the other 2 on the central line, at least 12" apart. The player who holds the most wins. In this case, I am considering grouping them on one side of the table rather than have them spread out as this might actually favour me, especially with his fast moving units. The question is, will he charge forward with the fast cav to capture them and then retreat trying to slip them through the gaps of the blocks moving up behind them.?

This is a tricky one as I do want his blocks to have the tokens to reduce their mobility rather than the riders. The good news is they only need to lose 1 model to lose fortitude and thus the token.


Potential secondary mission choice - “Cut off the Head” – Kill the Enemy General in hand to hand to hand combat by the end of the game. Any mount does not need to be killed. An Enemy General fleeing at the end of the game does not count.



6. Wicked Woods

Holding the woods is key and moving into it early is essential. You have to hold it for at least 7 player turns (of 12) to ensure a win. The key will be to move as much chaff forward as possible to obstruct his blocks at every turn to maximise the turns a unit is in it. Everything not in the woods becomes sacrificial, whether chaff, doombull or Bestigor.


Last time we played he got the jump on me, so if we play this again, I need to ensure that I get the upper hand, maybe by placing the harpies centrally so their 20" march can block any unit he wants to move into the woods.


Potential secondary mission choice - “Take a Message” – Specify a model in your army to be a messenger. Specify a fortitude-bearing unit in the enemy army that contains your spy. Get your messenger model into contact with the spy’s unit. If the spy’s unit is alive at the end of the game your mission has succeeded. The messenger model does not have to be a character model.

I love reading your reports. Try and read this again when you next face him. It helps me to not repeat mistakes. Good luck in your next game!

Did you just quote the whooolllllleeeeeee report to say, nice report???

Haha, it looks like I did!

Didn't realise at the time... but it's a nice report (Beastmen loss aside) so I guess i felt like repeating it

On Friday I faced off against the second opponent in my group, Martin and his Longbeard heavy Dwarves.

It was another game I was looking forward to immensely, as I've played Dwarves a lot in this edition but I've not played against them in some years and with his three stubborn blocks of Longbeards, cannon and Organ Gun, I was about to have a taste of my own medicine! On top of that, I'd never played Martin, so it was a double bonus!


Khazbar was secretly pleased. Bashor's decision to relocate the herd to new grounds was not going down well. There had been constant grumbling and he had already been forced to put down 3 challenges to his leadership. That they had failed was slightly vexing, still there were plenty more fools who could be goaded into stepping up. The important thing was to ensure that if they failed, they didn't live to cast aspersions on him.


The one doubt that had been gnawing at him was the route of their migration. It followed a pass that was dangerously close to the holds of the stunted ones. He looked around and tried to console himself with the size of the herd. Surely they wouldn't try anything against the might arrayed before him. Would they?...



Terrain

For the second game in a row, map pack 5 was randomly selected from the terrain table, which consisted of 4 buildings, 2 walls/fence sections, 1 hill and 1 wood.


I was player A, so set down the first bit of terrain and after setup, it looked like this:





Scenario and Pre-match rolls

Martin rolled the Invade scenario which I wasn't disappointed with, as I'd not only never played this but I thought my movement should give me an advantage, as the scenario required a player to have to move fortitude bearing units in the opponents half at the end of the game. This competition scenario played as per the battle of the pass scenario from the rule book so was played length wise.


In terms of spells, Khazbar had the following for the Lore of Beasts:

Pann's impenetrable pelt, Savage beast of horros, The amber spear and Wyssan's Wildform.


Wazzock took Melkoth's Miasma from the Lore of Shadow.


In terms of secret missions, I took raid the baggage and Martin took take a message.



Deployment

I won the toss to decide on ends and as it was pretty even, chose the side that all the models were on (purely for ease). As normal the chaff was laid first, with the Ungor Raiders deployed as a forward screen to give hard cover vs the Organ Gun. One Chariot, the Doombull and Harpies were all deployed behind buildings to give them cover from the Cannon and other ranged units in the dwarf army.


Martin deployed his units in a double rank, horde formation, forming a wall of stubbornness blocking the open terrain on his right flank. The warmachines were interspersed between the blocks and his Gyro's were placed to make use of the cover of the buildings.


Despite Martin finishing deploying his units first, I sneaked the first turn.


(Note: Martin forgot his movement trays, hence the McGivered envelopes used instead).









Beastmen - Turn 1

With an almighty roar, Cattleclysm flew forward into the shadow of a house near the dwarf lines. The rest of the herd responded in kind and stampeded straight towards the mass of stunties.


The two units of raiders tried some speculative shooting towards the war machines but failed to do anything. Magic was similarly ineffective with the 2 Runesmiths smothering the winds of magic before they could coalesce into a form Khazbar could use.







Dwarf - Turn 1

The front ranks of the dwarf lines consolidated their positions, with the right most unit advancing slightly. The Longbeards in reserve executed a reform into a column and moved in lockstep towards the buildings. The quarrellers spotted the nearby Doombull and hurried into the nearby building. The two Gyrocoptors flew up in support throwing their bombs on the frothing bull beneath them. The lack of air at altitude had obvious affected the judgement of the dwarf daredevils, as despite multiple explosions, the Minotaur remained unharmed.


The Organ Gun opened up on the Beastmen runts who had dared to target it and obliterated 3 of the twisted ones. Under the stern gaze of Bashor, they held their nerve.


The cannon the targeted one of the Razorgor and the crew could only stare as the shot ricocheted off one of the tusks, leaving it unharmed.






Beastmen - Turn 2

Cattleclysm charged at the cottage, smashing the door from its frame. Despite tearing the first three quarrellers apart, their sacrifice gave the others enough time to repel the assault.


Khazbar could only growl in frustration as spell after spell was nullified by the runepriests. To top it off his increasing irritation then caused him to lose concentration. Something would have to be done about them!


With a look of feral cunning on his face, Khazbar sent the Razorgor charging into the flanking unit of Longbeards, taking control of it's primitive mind he directed it to attack the interfering Runesmith. His control did nothing more than handicap it's natural aggression and it fluffed it's attacks and was summarily cut down.


Casting fearful glances behind them, as Bashor bellowed at them, the Ungor moved up to block the central Longbeard unit and the Organ Guns field of fire. The pressure was obviously too much for them and all the shots they then fired at the dwarf unit, failed to inflict any damage.







Dwarf - Turn 2

After barely breaking a sweat over the Razorgor, the Longbeards decided they needed some more light exercise and so charged into the nearest chariot. This was too much for the crew who legged it after the dwarves carved them up a little. Deciding they still needed a further workout, they followed up and crashed into the immense block of Gor behind.


With a bit of breathing space, after having repelled the Doombull, the crossbow armed dwarves targeted the raiders that were blocking the Orgun Guns field of fire, slaying one of the two remaining short horns but more importantly giving it a clear shot on the Bestigor.


With a shouted command from the dwarf lord, the two warmachine crews swivelled their machines and opened up on Bashor and his bodyguard. Both Gyrocoptors also moved up to support the attack and engulfed the unit in a double helping of boiling water. When the smoke and steam had dissipated, there were fourteen bodies in a dismembered and parboiled state!







Beastmen - Turn 3

Cattleclysm again stormed the building. This time the Quarrellers weren't able to contain the psychotic Doombull and 5 deaths was enough to convince the remaining duo that they ought to report the situation to their liege in the safety of the main lines.


Smelling it's favourite food, dwarf patties, the remaining Razorgor, charged into the dwarf unit opposite. A few minutes later, it was the dwarves who were feasting on the haunch of the butchered animal. They then made short work of the chariot that had joined it it the assault. As the crew died, they cast last confused glances at the unit of smirking Bestigor that had pulled up short during the charge and left them to their fate.


In a move displaying all the courage that Harpies are renown for, they bravely moved up behind the gyro's threatening to rear charge them.

Not liking the thought of facing the horde of dwarves and seeing easier prey, one unit of Ungors moved to attack the cannon crew. The plucky raiders managed to kill one of the dwarves whilst only losing one of their number!


The other remaining Ungor came to the realisation that by staying in the open he was dead meat and also charged forward, swerving to avoid the same horde but targeting the Organ gun crew instead, attempting to tie it up in combat. The dwarves hadn't signed up to the game plan though and the only thing he gained for his trouble was a swift execution.


Khazbar saw yet another one of his spells dispelled, this time by one of the hated smiths invoking the runes on his stave. His temper finally snapped and he forced Savage Beast on himself. Imbued with unnatural power he laid into the Longbeards in front of him, crushing skulls with each swing. Each kill allowed him to absorb their souls and he visibly started to glow with power.








Dwarf - Turn 3

Neither Gyro were falling for the old 'leave myself open for a rear charge' trick and both moved and targeted the Harpies, with 3 of the bird women falling from the sky. However they had done their task and distracted the Gyrocoptors from attacking the more valuable Bestigor.


The organ gun crew again turned their attention to the Bestigor. After half the barrels failed to fire, they realised that an arm of the freshly killed Ungor had wedged in the firing mechanism and moved to clear the blockage.


The Ungors, getting carried away with their success, flew into a frenzy and managed to kill another of the cannon crew.


Khazbar continued his rampage and in the process drew in more souls. The Gor in his unit, followed his lead and butchered an entire rank of the longbeards.







Beastmen - Turn 4

Bashor led the remaining Bestigor into combat with the Longbeards. Khazbar threw wildform on them, boosting both their strength and toughness. The dwarf lord quickly issued a challenge and Bashor, not liking the look of the heavily armoured dwarf, pushed forward the champion to accept. He looked on in shock, as not only did the lord fail to kill him but the champion managed to wound him in return! Distracted and shaking his mane in disbelief, one of the dwarves managed to also wound him. He looked down at the gash in surprise and then took down four of the dwarves in retaliation. In the general melee the dwarves and Bestigor continued to slay one another but the wiley dwarves concentrated most of their attacks on the vulnerable Shaman, swiftly bringing him down.


Seeing Khazbar swollen with power, the Runesmith desperately invoked his runes to dispel Savage Beast but the Great Bray Shaman, aided with his enchanted weapon, still continued to slay dwarves left and right, as did the Gor accompanying him.


The heroic Ungor finally finished off the cannon crew, spiked the weapon to ensure it would serve no more purpose and then looked around, drunk on power, for their next victims.





(Edit - after writing this and looking at the photos, it looks like the dwarves may have charged the Bestigor in turn 4, with the turn 3 Bestigor charge having failed. My notes didn't say either way but it's the only thing that makes the photos make sense, especially with the unit positioning and lack of casualties caused in turn 4).

Dwarf - Turn 4

With no other targets in range, the organ gun shredded the remaining few harpies.


The dwarf BSB and remaining quarrellers, both charged the Ungors. After slapping the frenzy out of them and cutting down 3, the final member of the group realised they may have gotten a bit too big for their boots and unsurprisingly legged it towards the edge of the battlefield.


The Bestigor/Longbeard combat continued to wage but with a brief lull in combat as the Dwarf Lord finally slew the Gouge-Horn.


With the flanking Longbeard unit rapidly depleting, there was no longer a target rich environment for the Gor, so they turned their attention to the embedded Runesmith. The Smith was made of much greater mettle than his kin any shrugged off everything thrown at him.





Beastmen - Turn 5



Cattleclysm, scenting blood in the air, ignored the obvious target in front of him and flew into the rear of the ongoing combat, roaring a challenge as he flew. The already wounded lord decided he didn't like the odds of that fight and decided he was better off skulking in the ranks of the unit. His ability to hide looked far less likely as the Doombull, Beastlord and Bestigor's combined attacks made mincemeat of the unit. It was only the power of the ancestral standard that kept them in the fight.


In the other combat, sheer weight of numbers finally won out and the Runesmith and his remaining bodyguard fell beneath the cloven hooves of their adversaries.







Dwarf - Turn 5

The two Gyros moved to give the Gor block their full attention and the steam guns went to work removing a number of them.


The, so far, untouched, unit of Longbeards, charged into the rear of the Doombull. His heavy armour and rage ensured he still inflicted more damage than he received.


The battered units of Bestigor and Longbeards kept their fight going and by the end, the combat had drawn.




Results

Me - Win (15) + Fully Painted (2) = 17 points


Martin - Loss (5) = 5 points



Conclusions

That was a very, very close win.


To try and put that statement into perspective. The comp pack states that a unit must have 5 models (3 monstrous), including a standard, general or bsb, to constitute a scoring unit. After the final fight I had 4 Bestigor left and the Beastlord (so 5 models), which gave me a scoring unit strength of 3 (2 for the general and 1 for the Standard). His Longbeard unit had 3 longbeards left plus the general, so with 4 models, it was one dwarf under the 5 minimum required to score, so neither the unit standard or general counted.


If he had managed one more casualty on the Bestigor, or if I had failed to kill one of the dwarf longbeards in his general's units it would have ended up a draw! As I said, very, very close.


There were a number of mistakes made by both of us. My biggest one was splitting attacks from the Gor unit between the Longbeards and the Runesmith for two consecutive combats. Not only did he pull an amazing amount of saves out the bag on the Runesmith and the last few dwarves but there was no need for me to split the attacks. I should have directed all of them into the unit to remove the stubborn banner and then run down the Runesmith. It just shows how frustration can influence decisions as with the amount of dispels he had thrown out in the game, I just wanted to kill the Runesmith.


On a side note, his lord shouldn't have managed to avoid the Doombull's challenge as being mounted on an oathstone he has to accept challenges.

In terms of what went well. The Gor herd was excellent. 50 is definitely the right number to pump out a shed load of attacks whilst absorbing casualties.


I also finally managed to get Khazbar into combat with savage beasts on and it was impressive. He generated a shed load of power dice from the jagged dagger and this allowed me to overcome the persistent low winds of magic rolls. With the 'Brass Cleaver', magic weapon, this meant he was attacking with 8 (2+3+3) strength 8 (4+1+3) attacks and on average, this generated 3 additional dice per combat round. Not too shabby at all. Going forward, if I went this build again, I would probably forgo the additional attacks from the brass cleaver and go a slightly more defensive build with the fencers blades. This would drop the maximum attacks by two but would almost ensure that he always hit on a 3+ and anyone with a WS of 4 or under will only hit him on a 5+. This would likely make the difference of attacks negligible.


Even playing dwarves, I hadn't appreciated how much of total pain the stubborn banners can be as it effectively makes any unit with one a tarpit, as I found out! Again the Gyro's also proved their worth, though I think they could have been more effective in the game.


Overall it was a great, friendly game that went down to the wire. Probably my closest in a long time and i'd definitely play Martin again at a future date.



sdfsf

Cheers frozenfood
I will add that he had changed his list slightly from the finalised one submitted and his list wasn’t quite legal as he had added a stubborn rune to the 3rd unit of beards but he couldn’t have fitted it on with the points restrictions on the unit standard (I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t over on points value too but decided not to take issue with it as the changes didn’t impact the game).