2v2 40K Tournament

Saturday I will be playing in a 2v2 40K tournament at Shenanigans in Taylor, MI. I am teaming up my Space Wolves with Tyranids to take on the 3-game tournament. The tournament format is 1250 points per player, each player has a standard Force Org. There are three unique missions: Endzone, Adversaries, and Recover and Reclaim. Each mission has three objectives, worth 10, 6, and 4 Battle Points.


Endzone is a standard pitched battle deployment. Players alternate placing three objectives in their opponents deployment zones before deployment. The primary objective is to control more of the objectives in the enemy deployment zone. The secondary objective is to reduce more enemy squads below half strength. The tertiary objective is to kill the opposing HQ worth the most victory points.

Adversaries is spearhead deployment. Each army must nominate their Commander at the start, and the Commanders must move towards each other each turn to assault if possible. The primary objective is Kill Points. The secondary objective is to kill the opposing Commander. The tertiary objective is for your Commander to kill the opposing general (Commander?).

Recover and Reclaim is dawn of war deployment, and the first turn is night fight. During deployment place an objective in the opponents deployment zone. The first time a unit ends its move in terrain, on a 5+ that terrain piece becomes the "tower". The primary objective is to hold the tower objective, and the unit must be inside the terrain piece. The secondary objective is to control your objective placed in the enemy deployment zone with a scoring unit. The tertiary objective is to destroy the most vehicles and/or monstrous creatures.



I'll be Tweeting our results as the tournament goes on!

'Ard Boyz Round 2 Results

I made the trip today to The Game Room in Toledo, OH to participate in the second round of 'Ard Boyz. I was expecting a knock down, drag out, hard fought set of games against the hardest lists around. I definitely got that sort of game in the final match, but not really in the first 2. I credit a good draw for my success, and I actually should have done better but I accept the results, and I really did have a good time overall. Thanks to The Game Room for hosting.


Game 1 vs Warriors of Chaos, my opponent was pretty shocked at what I had on the table. It is 'Ard Boyz after all, but he was upset and it wasn't a very friendly game at all. He had 2 Lords fleeing from my Abominations when I ended the game by breaking him, so their points denied I ended up with a Minor Victory. 16 Battle points.

Game 2 was the exact opposite of game one in enjoyment, and I had an absolute blast and my opponent was a great guy. One of the more enjoyable games of Warhammer I've played, because my opponent was a cool guy and not just because I won. The 13th spell ended up taking out his General, BSB, and level 2 caster in this game, as it was his first game against Skaven and didn't realize what the 13th Spell COULD do. I also had some good luck with my cannon and Doomwheel against Minotaurs. 23 Battle points.

Game 3 on Table 1 vs the other Skaven army! My opponent had 1 Grey Seer, a defensive Warlord General, and another Warlord with the Fellblade. Otherwise our armies were similar, as he had 2 Hell Pit Abominations, a Furnace, 2 units of Gutter Runners, etc. Turn 1 I got the 13th Spell off and killed his Storm Vermin and Fellblade Warlord, because he only took a unit of 10 to get the Storm Banner in his list. I took my foot off the gas and he came back, and in the end actually pulled ahead on points. We finally ended with a Draw, and I won 12-10 on Battle points. GREAT game down to the end.

 Turn 2 action

Turn 5 dead pile

In the end there was a snafu, and the Daemon player from Table 2 ended up winning when he shouldn't have (rules mistakes made by both players), and I got 3rd overall. The Skaven player I "beat" was pretty upset, because he probably should have won 1st overall.

The tournament itself was pretty fun and intense. I'm looking forward to Chicago.

Warhammer Forge!

I just recieved some excellent news! I've been waiting for this for a while, but now they have unveiled it, finally:

Warhammer Forge Exclusively Unveiled at Games Day UK
Veteran games developer Rick Priestley and Forge World sculptor Mark Bedford have spent the past few months masterminding a brand new project, a long-awaited foray into resin products and detailed expansions for Warhammer, The Game of Fantasy Battles.
Warhammer Forge unveil a veritable horde of work-in-progress resin kits as well as early layout copies of the first in a series of lavish expansion books for the very first time at Games Day UK.
You’ll be able to see the staggering range of resin models that have been created over the past year, and Mark Bedford and his intrepid in-house sculptors Keith Robertson and Steve Whitehead will be available all day to answer any and all questions you have. These intricately detailed models are some of the finest yet produced in resin, adding an incredible depth and breadth to the existing Warhammer range.
Rick Priestley will be on hand to explain his future plans, and Book Production Manager Paul Rudge and Graphic Artist Sam Lamont will be displaying a dizzying array of their incredible work-in-progress example pages from the first Warhammer Forge book, and some phenomenal artwork from Games Workshop artistic stalwart Adrian Smith, as well as everything from single page vignettes to concept sketches and full-colour cover art.
The Warhammer Forge Studio team will be located right next to the Forge World Design Studio stand in the Arena – a map of Games Day can be found here.
You’ll be able to quiz the whole Warhammer Forge design team on the future of this exciting new range, and as an added bonus two of the resin kits on display will be available as advanced pre-releases from the Forge World Sales Stand in strictly limited quantities – details of exactly what these are will be unveiled at Games Day, so don’t miss the Warhammer Forge Studio Stand!

Round 2 missions

Pictures have been added to the massive Dwarf battle report. Check them out below this post.

The scenarios have been posted for round 2 of 'Ard Boyz! I got to playtest the first mission last night, which I needed because I have never played the Blood and Glory scenario! The special rules are just NASTY! I got 2 Dreaded 13th Spell's off on a single turn tonight. Taking a point away from my opponent while also giving myself one as I placed my own Clan Rats with a standard on the table.I won my practice game vs Warriors of Chaos, but the important thing was to win on my own terms. By this, I mean gaining enough victory point before taking the opponents last Fortitude point. The game ends as soon as the army breaks and then points are calculated. If you break them with the first spell of the game, you will end up with a Draw or Minor Victory!




They fixed the victory points. Massacre is 1750 more points than your opponent. Major is 1000 more. Minor is 500 more, and a Draw is winning by 499 points or less.

Scenario 1: Blood and Glory with crazy magic. Double 1, 2, and 3 are miscasts but will still go off. Double 4, 5, 6 are Irresistible. Both need to meet the casting result. +1 for lowest value unit alive, EACH enemy wizard killed, having all your wizards alive, and killing your opponents most expensive unit. The game ends as soon as you reach the break point, then determine the difference in victory points for battle points.

Scenario 2: Meeting Engagement. Each general has a token that grants 1 re-roll, and is worth 250 victory points. +1 battle point for EACH lucky token you control, for killing more characters, for killing the General, and for controlling both tokens at the end of the game.

Scenario 3: Battleline. 2 units start in reserve and arrive on turn three from the side or rear edge. +1 battle point for killing the lowest point cost unit, for capturing more banners, for killing the General, and for EACH of the enemy reinforcement units killed.

3000 Skaven vs Dwarf battle report

I had been trying to find a Dwarf opponent to get some practice in before Saturday's upcoming 'Ard Boyz Semi Final round, and then I met Drew last week and set up a game for Tuesday. He was able to accommodate and bring a pretty 'Ard Dwarf list that really tested my cursed ratmen, and gave me a good game worth posting as a full battle report.

Starting off, I played my revamped 'Ard Boyz list. It included 2 Grey Seers, a Plague Priest on a Furnace, my BSB, a Warlock with a condenser, a lvl 1 Warlock with a Doomrocket, a Warlock with a MR2 amulet, 2x30 Clan Rats, 2x40 Slaves, 30 Storm Vermin, 24 Plague Monks, 2x5 Gutter Runners, 2 Hell Pit Abominations, Doomwheel, and Warp Lightning Cannon.

Drew's List was lead by Thorek and his Anvil, a Dwarf Lord with a great weapon, Bugman (the character who scouts), BSB with +2 dispel banner, another Rune Priest, big Ranger block, big Warrior block with great weapons, big Ironbreaker block, 2 units of Thunderers, 1 unit of Quarelers, 2 Cannons, a Bolt Thrower, and an Organ Gun. This gave him +4 dispel dice and +4 to dispel every turn. Tough list!

Turn 1, I activated the Storm Banner right away as the Dwarf army rolled to go first. Even with the Storm Banner up and running, the Dwarf shooting took out 10 or so Storm Vermin. The Gutter Runners closed in but didn't damage much on one side, and on the other they were an inch away from being able to shoot at Thorek. The Plague Monks get a charge on the out of position Ranger unit. Out of the gate I used the 13th Spell with the Power Scroll and smashed his Ironbreakers, killing about 2/3 of the unit. In close combat the Plague Monks roll right over the Ranger unit and overrun towards the flank.

Turn 2 the Storm Banner is still up after 2 rolls, but it doesn't stop the Dwarf artillery from blowing BOTH units of Gutter Runners off the table. Again the Anvil fails to do much more than whimper. On the Skaven turn, the Storm Banner ends (to the rejoicing of the Dwarf Engineers). The left Hell Pit Abomination rolls triples and comes to a grinding halt! The Dwarf dispel is too much, and I can't cast a single spell. My WLC blasts into two war machines and the engineer, but the strength is only a 2 so I do zero damage.

Turn 3, the Dwarf army goes on the offensive and double charges the close Hell Pit Abomination! Both charges make it. Both Dwarf Cannons make use of clear skies and unleash on the Plague Furnace. The first only rolls 1 wound after hitting, and the second rolls a 1 when trying to wound and does nothing! The Horned Rat was watching over the Furnace for sure. The Hell Pit kills 10 Dwarfs but a full squad of great weapons is too much even for its regeneration and it falls, only the unleash 2 Rat Swarms from its corpse.

The Skaven then do their own mass of charges. The Rat Swarms make it into the Thunderers close by, a giant Slave block charges into the remaining Ironbreakers, the Doomwheel makes it into Quarrelers, but the Storm Vermin and other Slave unit fail their charges on the BSB and other Thunderers. Another Magic phase with no Skaven power. I rolled 9 power dice and the Dwarfs had 10 dispel dice! Even better, the Doomwheel misfires and does two wounds to itself, but the WLC finally kills two Bolt Thrower crew. The Doomwheel runs down the Quarrelers into a Cannon! The Slaves lose and hold steadfast whiel the Swarms hold against the Thunderers.

Turn 4, a single bolt finds its way into the fleshy torso of the Abomination, doing 4 wounds. The remaining free Dwarf Cannon hits the Furnace dead on, but again does only 1 wound! The Doomwheel wrecks the Cannon and the rest of the Skaven hold after losing to the rock steady Dwarfs. On the Skaven turn I unleashed another slew of charges. The Doomwheel misfires and blasts itself for 5 more wounds, and explodes amid the Dwarf warmachine line. The Hellpit only has 1 wound left, but blows through the Organ Gun into the second Cannon. The Storm Vermin try to allocate hits onto the BSB but only do one wound, lose combat, but hold with their own BSB roll. The Swarm succumbs to the Dwarf Thunderers, freeing them to shoot next turn.

Turn 5, the Anvil goes off and kills 6 Slaves and 4 Clan Rats. The Hellpit finishes the Dwarf Cannon, but can't overrun two turns in a row. The Storm Vermin and Slaves both lose, but hold. The Skaven charge again! The Furnace makes it to the Bolt Thrower, and the Slaves flank the Thunderers. The Grey Seer General unleashes Crack's Call through the Dwarf Warrior front rank, killing every Dwarf it touches, the Runepriest, and misses the Dwarf Lord! It was the only spell successfully cast. He leaps to safety. The Storm Vermin whiff in combat and flee from the Thunderers and BSB. The Hellpit got to the Anvil this turn, does 1 wound with impact hits, 1 wound out of the 16 attacks it rolled, and 1 wound with Thunderstomp. Thorek does NO wounds back. The Furnace overruns through the Bolt Thrower and into the Engineer.

Turn 6 the Dwarf Lord declares a charge on my Grey Seer who had the power scroll, and the great Skaven leader he is, he flees from the fight! The remaining Thunderers shoot 6 shots at a lone Warlock Engineer who had yet to unleash his Doomrocket, but fail to do a single wound. The Furnace kills the lone Engineer and holds steady, and the Hell Pit Abomination does 2 wounds to Thorek, but dies to his counter attack! Thorek has ONE wound left.

The final Skaven turn seals the fate of the Dwarf army. My fleeing units continue to flee, but do not flee off the board. I roll double sixes for my final magic phase (two turns in a row) and cast Crack's Call again, but I am 1" short of the Dwarf Lord! I still whittle the unit down in time to unleash the second and final Dreaded 13th Spell of the game. I rolled a natural 29 and the Dwarfs rolled a 27. The Dwarf Lord and his remaining faithful Dwarf Warriors and transmogrified, warped, and twisted into Clan Rats. The Plague Furnace comes rolling down the hill into Thorek and his Anvil, smashing him to a mushy pulp. The final turn of Skaven carnage earns me 964 points, for an overall massacre with a score of 2221 for Skaven, and 825 for the Dwarfs. The fleeing Storm Vermin and Clan Rats with the Grey Seer still on the board save me a lot of points.

Overall it was a close game until the last turn. Drew made some mistakes, like deploying his Rangers too close and not taking any flaming runes on his Cannons. Overall he played very well and was actually very strong in dispelling most all of my spells. But the ones I did sneak in were game changers and helped support the rest of my troops to the win.

8th is here to stay, accept it.

How is your local community accepting the big changes to the Warhammer core rules? For the most part it has revived the interest in Warhammer as far as I can tell. Lots of new players building armies and enjoying the rules, and old players starting new armies or bringing out old armies that maybe weren't competitive in the last edition. Or are they strongly against the new changes and forming their own secret clubs to play 7th edition while hidden away in their basement?! There was a small faction after ETC that had mentioned they wanted to play 7th edition again next year for the ETC, because 8th didn't lend to the same competitive tournament play. Sure I agree that it's harder to have a balanced tournament with the way things are now, but overall I love 8th edition and think it is an improvement for my enjoyment of the game.

I did have one serious objection to the new edition by an opponent this weekend. I was at one of my FLGS's. I was playing multiple games to practice for this coming Saturday's 'Ard Boyz semi final in Toledo, and I was playing an Ogre player who had seem some 8th edition but hadn't played yet. He made his list and didn't mind playing against my 'Ard Boyz list, and we set up playing a normal Battleline scenario at his request. I took my first turn and mostly maneuvered, but things didn't go so well on his first turn. During the charge phase, he charged with his Ogre Bulls against my Clan Rats and chose to Hold. When his Yetis also charged the same unit the Clan Rats chose to Flee! The sequence of declaring all of your charges and reactions, combined with my Clan Rats now fleeing in a safe direction from the center of his Yeti units, and the fact that his Ogres would now fail their charge as well (I bounced through my own rats about 16 inches total) infuriated him. He stopped the game right there, stated he wasn't playing his Ogres anymore, and probably wasn't going to play Warhammer again until they changed the rules. Oooooooooo K.

There are good things and there are bad things about 8th Edition. I'd say there are more good than bad and it is a ton of fun overall. The rule set is here to stay, so unless you are forming your own basement 7th edition club you need to just learn the new ruleset like everybody else and have FUN.

Skaven and a Meeting Engagement

I know I've blogged about this before, but after brainstorming my list and adding in some Plague Monks I was giving some serious thought to a Plague Furnace! The problem comes in when you add the rules for Meeting Engagement where all units and individual characters must roll to see if they are placed in reserve at the start of the battle. The problem is, if you roll a '1' on either your Furnace or Monks and not both, the Furnace is effectively destroyed because it has no unit to deploy into!

Now I've thought up my own solution, and I've gotten some opinions from other event organizers, but I decided to go to the source. I called up Games Workshop Customer Service and they confirmed my thoughts. Since it can ONLY be deployed inside the Plague Monks the Plague Furnace and the monks are rolled for together. This would apply to similar units that MUST be deployed together (like a Screaming Bell if you only have 1 unit of Clan Rats or Storm Vermin, or a Slaan in a unit of Temple Guard). But, more importantly the ruling is not official so I would have to call my tournament organizer and get their ruling.

So I called up The Game Room in Toledo, OH and asked. The Game Room is where I will be heading for the next round of 'Ard Boyz. They agreed with the ruling on the Plague Furnace that I thought was correct and GW CS backed up, and it looks like I am bringing a Plague Furnace to the next round.

Another 3000 points.

I was doing some list rewriting, playtesting, and option gauging this weekend, and I am thinking about finalizing my 'Ard Boyz list for the next round. After the first round I came away with a couple opinions of my own list. 1) I didn't need the sacrificial Warlock with the Forbidden Rod. He didn't offer much to the army. 2) The Giant Rats were good for taking up space on my flanks, but didn't contribute to any serious fights and my army almost had too many models to be fully effective. I experimented this week with Rat Ogres, but I was unhappy with them. Yes they hit hard, but they have no armor save, and 300 points for 6 Ogres (and 3 Packmasters) is too much of an investment for my liking in this environment. I am still planning on bringing them to the Fall Classic.

So here is what I am thinking about adding. 1) Plague Monks. They are taking the place of the Giant Rats again, who I originally took the Monks out for. I want to get a magic banner in their unit to get more flaming attacks in the army. I am expecting to see lots of Dark Elf players in the next round. I would prefer to give them the Storm Banner and keep flaming attacks on the Storm Vermin, but that would drop me below my minimum Core. It also gives me a place to put in my next addition and use them as a decent flank protector and support unit. 2) Plague Priest. I wanted this guy in the list as another channel die, another Plague Spell to get my Power Scroll Grey Seer 'Plague' like I plan on, and a good leader of the Plague Monks. I gave him the Warp Scroll which is very powerful if it goes off, Bound 5 doing S2 hits to every model in a single unit within 24" with no armor saves. 3) My third unit of Gutter Runners. I hated to see them go when I was toying around with Rat Ogres. These guys are outstanding for either scouting and taking away Vanguard moves and protecting my own war machines, scouting and taking out poorly deployed war machines or characters, or sneaky infiltrating and doing whatever I want.

The scenarios haven't been released yet. This takes away from my total core units in the army, but also adds another banner if there is a fortitude scenario (although I have a feeling the deployment and core missions will be the same). So here is the list as it stands. Please comment and critique.


Grey Seer (G), lvl 4 ruin and plague, talisman of preservation, dispel scroll
Grey Seer, lvl 4 plague and ruin, foul pendant, power scroll

Plague Priest, lvl 1 plague, warp scroll
Chieftain, bsb, shield, armor of destiny
Warlock Engineer, lvl 1 ruin, warp-energy condenser
Warlock Engineer, doomrocket
Warlock Engineer, obsidian amulet

30 Storm Vermin, full command, storm banner
30 Clan Rats, full command, shields
30 Clan Rats, full command, shields
40 Slaves
40 Slaves

24 Plague Monks, full command, banner of eternal flame
5 Gutter Runners, slings, poisoned attacks
5 Gutter Runners, slings, poisoned attacks
5 Gutter Runners, slings, poisoned attacks

Hell Pit Abomination, warp spike
Hell Pit Abomination
Doomwheel
Warp Lightning Cannon

3000

21% Lord - 615
14% Hero - 432
25% Core - 755
16% Spec - 473
24% Rare - 725

Fall Classic

With preparation for the 'Ard Boyz semi finals on my mind, I also am planning for the Fall Classic at Pandemonium on November 13th, run by members of the GLWL. The Fall Classic will use the GLWL composition rules (including 12 power dice max, banned power scrolls, and some unit restrictions), and will score battle points, painting, composition/theme, and sportsmanship. I sent in my 2500 point list today an registered, and will be getting some 2500 point practice against Slipwing's Empire this Saturday.

If you're interested in the tournament, you can see the preregistration and tournament info HERE.

(Sound of Arrow)
MESSAGE FOR YOU SIR!

I am proud to announce that we will be having the 2nd Annual Fall Classic Warhammer Fantasy Tournament at Pandemonium on November 13th, 2010. This 2,500pt tournament will consist of 3 rounds the cost is $10.00 cash at the door. We have 30 spots on a first come first serve basis. Last year we had 20 generals show up and I would love to max this event out.

All players who wish to participate must be registered for this tournament in advance. To register for the tournament, send an e-mail to both of the Organizers with your full name and your full army list by Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010.

Grudge Matches:
For players who wish to participate we will be offering 1st round grudge matches. Grudge matches are an opportunity to challenge an opposing general that may have fought in the past or a rival you have not faced in a long time. Grudge matches are meant in good fun and are encouraged to be used to enhance your gaming experience and hopefully spark further grudges! Those who wish to participate must have both players contact the tournament organizers before November 3rd, 2010.

There have been many changes to this years event in light of 8th edition so please read your tournament packet which can be located here
http://glwl.org/wfb_nov_13_2010_tourney_v3.pdf

See you on the battlefield

Jason

Looking at 'Ard Boyz results in the Great Lakes region

My round 1 'Ard Boyz army

I wanted to take a look at what happened last month at 'Ard Boyz, at least in the locations that are possibly within driving distance of the two semi final locations I am thinking about going to. Either Indianapolis, or more likely than not, Toledo OH. I haven't been able to get any real results from Ohio or Michigan other than the two local locations I know about. PLEASE, if you know of any other results, post them in the comment section or email me at rhellion.wh@gmail.com

So lets take a look at what happened in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.

Garden City, MI
1- Skaven
2- Warriors of Chaos
3- Lizardmen

Livonia, MI
1- High ELves
2- Dark Elves
3- Wood Elves

Bloomington, IL
1- Orcs and Goblins
2- Ogres
3- Brettonians

Springfield, IL
1- Skaven
2- Dwarfs
3- Skaven

O'Fallon, IL
1- Dark Elves
2- Vampire Counts
3- Dark Elves

Indianapolis, IN
1. Daemons of Chaos
2. Lizardmen
3. Vampire Counts

Indianapolis, IN
1- Dwarfs
2- Vampire Counts
3- Warriors of Chaos

Indianapolis, IN
1- Empire
2- Warriors of Chaos
3- Dark Elves

Lafayette, IN
1- Orcs & Goblins
2- Wood Elves
3- High Elves

Fort Wayne, IN
1- Dark Elves
2- Dwarfs
3- High Elves 

Totals of these armies in the Great Lakes region, and I will update as I get more results from more local locations:

Dark Elves -5
Skaven - 3

Warriors of Chaos - 3
Vampire Counts - 3
High Elves -3
Dwarfs - 3
Lizardmen - 2

Wood Elves - 2
Orcs and Goblins - 2

Ogres - 1

Empire - 1

Daemons of Chaos - 1

Weekend wrapup

It was a good holiday hobby weekend. I had a short week last week with my vacation up state, so I was looking forward to coming home, picking up my Island of Blood set, and getting some games in. Lets start with Island of Blood. One word: Fantastic! I love the small rule book, and I love the Skaven models. I already assembled my Skaven set, I traded away my High Elves today for another Skaven set, and I already started some conversion work. At the very least I immediately cut the cleaver off of my Warlord and added a shield. It is silly to have two weapons when one is a halberd! I think I am planning on taking the halberd off the other one as well as the back banner. I might change the head too, I have a cool engineer head left over from my Doomwheel kit I've been meaning to use for a conversion.

After picking up my Island of Blood set on Saturday, I also picked up a Mephiston model for my Wife's Blood Angel army, and I played my first game of Warhammer 40k in about 2 months. Mephiston is a beast! We also picked up another 2 Assault Squad boxes so she could fill out her army a little better, but for our game Saturday we just added Mephiston to her existing army and played 2000 points. I played a pretty standard list and was able to intercept Mephiston with a Lone Wolf to handle him, but she has a much better grasp on how to use him in the future. My opinion is that he is best as a support character following behind another Assault Squad, intercepting armor and assisting in assaults to take the focus off of himself. He also NEEDS cover, either from actual cover or other marines. Fell No Pain probably doesn't hurt either from a Sanguinary Priest.

Today I played a a 3000 point 'Ard Boyz practice game against Mike's High Elves with Teclis leading them using Shadow magic. Mike won the 'Ard Boyz at RIW Hobbies, so I knew even though he made some minor changes to try and improve his list, it would be a very close idea of what I would be facing in the semi finals (especially since we are car pooling together). He had a level 2 with High magic, a BSB, and the Phoenix Guard special character. He had a large bunker unit of Spearmen, a small unit of archers, a smaller unit of Swordmasters, a big unit of Phoenix Guard, a small unit of White Lions, a large unit of Seaguard, minimal unit of Dragon Princes, and 4 Great Eagles. I played with the list I used for 'Ard Boyz, but I dropped a unit of Giant Rats, dropped a unit of Gutter Runners, dropped a level of magic off a Warlock, and also dropped his forbidden rod. Instead I added 2 units of Rat Ogres with a master-bred and an additional packmaster.

At the start of the game I scouted one unit of Gutter Runners in front of 2 Great Eagles. The other unit was flanking the other Great Eagles and Dragon Princes. When he tried to open the game by charging the one unit, a stood and shot, killing one Great Eagle with my poisoned slings. I killed the second on the same side when he charged me that turn. I would just like to say now, if you are playing Skaven and do not have Gutter Runners in your army list... go buy them now. Log on to GW, call your store, check EBay, just go buy them. They have proven again and again how valuable they are, both in practice games and at 'Ard Boyz itself.

He advanced slightly and I pretty much rushed forward. Very first turn I cast Plague and it was scrolled by Teclis, and I lost Plague for the game. I then cast the 13th Spell on his not-large-enough unit of Swordsmen and warped the entire unit into Clan Rats. Then my Grey Seer (not the General) rolled a 4 and then a 3 and was instant killed himself. There is a reason I take two Grey Seers, and give the Power Scroll to the second! Magic was not to grand during the game as far as high amounts of power dice, we both rolled pretty much average. But the High Elves had the Banner of Sorcery and Teclis, both adding d3 power dice each casting phase, as well as the crystal that removes a power die and adds it to his pool in each dispel phase. I was lucky that my channel rolls were on fire! Even still, Teclis was great with magic and even rolled FOUR irresistable force spells in a single phase at one point (only 1 with double 6's).

My Hell Pit Abominations were almost non-factors until very late in the game. I fled a charge from Phoenix Guard early that left me recovering until I could get a late charge on HPA 1. HPA 2 was supremely unlucky, as he had a Pit of Shades scatter 8 inches OFF of the nearby Storm Vermin right onto him, and promptly failed his Initiative test. That was the only "deadly" spell I got hit by really. The rest was buffs and debuffs from Teclis to help his army. I already mentioned my one 13th Spell, but I did get another off on turn 6 that wiped out the rest of the White Lions to secure their victory points.

The shooting was very limited in the game. On the first High Elf turn though, he shot my Rat Ogres and killed 1 Packmaster (which is 25%!). They promptly failed their leadership test and fled off the board. This was a very good lesson. I've already drafted a new list with a single unit of 6 Rat Ogres with 3 Packmasters. Throughout the rest of the game I used the Storm Banner combined with Howling Warpgale to stop the High Elf shooting phase and all but shut down the leftover Great Eagles.

My own shooting was not spectacular, but the Doomrocket is a beutiful thing. On my own first turn (I activated the Storm Banner on his second turn), I cast Skitterleap on my own Warlock Engineer from my Grey Seer and sent him behind enemy lines. I set up about 16 inches away from the center of Teclis' Spearmen bunker, rolled 12 on 4d6, and killed 25 out of 31 models in the unit!!! I did position him so that if I rolled too high, I would at least hit the unit behind Teclis and possibly still him too, but the dice gods smiled on my sneaky tactics, and the Horned Rat laughed at the dead elf-things.

I also really nailed the best tactic for defeating Teclis... charge his unit and allocate attacks onto the wimpy elf. Sure he wounds on 2+ with his one attack, but steadfast Slaves or Stormvermin (who finally killed him) will work just fine. In the end I had flank Abomination charges and the Rat Ogres finally making it into combat to wrap things up. Turn 6 the only High Elf unit on the board were the Phoenix Guard, but he had killed enough Skaven that even with only 1 unit left, I only got a minor victory. Against another 'Ard Boyz winner, and Teclis, I will take it and chalk it up as a lot of quality experience!

Warriors of Chaos inbound

I swapped the Beastmen battle force I won at 'Ard Boyz for a Warriors of Chaos box, and picked up the army book this weekend. The models are fantastic, probably my favorite army visually in all of Warhammer. I started putting my battle force together (well 3 of my 5 Knights so far) and reading the army book, and this is what I've come up with as my preliminary 2500 point army list. Please have a look, especially if you are a veteran Chaos player!

Sorcerer Lord, tzeentch, lvl 4, third eye of tzeentch, infernal puppet, talisman of preservation, enchanted shield
Sorcerer, lvl 2 death, chaos steed, dispel scroll
Exalted Champion, bsb, shield, collar of khorne
24 Warriors, tzeentch, full command, shield
24 Warriors, khorne, full command, extra hand weapons
5 Knights, full command, banner of eternal flame
6 Chaos Trolls
Hellcannon
Warshrine, tzeentch

2499


Updated the list, given my model choices.




A long with my work planning a Chaos army, I am looking for some practice before the next round of 'Ard Boyz. I may do some tuning of my list, but I am undecided. More importantly I need to find a location in Michigan that is hosting!