GLWL Game 4

Game 4 was what I figured would be my toughest challenge in this year's GLWL, last year's Division Winner Nik Rodorigo. This year Nik brought a tough Dark Elf list that looked like the following:

L4 Shadow, dagger
L2 Death, scroll
L1 Death, plus 1 spell
BSB
40 Spearmen
16 Repeating Crossbowmen
16 Repeating Crossbowmen
16 Repeating Crossbowmen
20 Blackguard
20 Blackguard
Cold One Chariot
Cold One Chariot
War Hydra

We rolled up our deployment with Dawn Attack. Nik deployed first and much of his power was deployed on my left flank with the rest of the bulk in the middle of the field. A pretty solid deployment which is lucky for Dawn Attack. My force was then deployed very similarly, which allowed me to start away from his Hydra and chariots, which I thought was perfect for my plan to magic him until he got close enough to engage.

And magic him I did. I was able to stop early shooting with the Storm Banner and keep the death magic off my Abomination first turn. This allowed me to start in with my own magic. Nik made the mistake of not using his scroll early on Plague and failed his dispel roll. Plague ripped through the Dark Elves and decimated their line first turn. This is a best case scenario for my army, because I love softening up vulnerable elite units to smash with my strengths later in the game.

From there on out I was able to really commit to punching forward, though I did my best of avoiding and blocking up my left flank. I didn't want those chariots and hydra wrecking my flank. My cannon made a solid shot and sniped one chariot and put wounds on the other. My Warlock with the orb got sniped early so I didn't get to use him against the hydra, but another cannon shot put 4 wounds on the hydra to make him severely weaker.

Now the Plague Furnace was clear of the woods and building and rumbling towards the DE lines. With the Furnace and HPA running free, and his level 4 bailing out to try and flee, I was able to roll over the rest of the army for the easy win at this point. It would have been a tougher game if that first turn Plague had been dispelled, but I got the big win and move on to 4-0 in the 2012 GLWL.

Next up will be my final report of the season against Empire.

Upcoming big events

I like to travel to tournaments in my local area, and regularly participate in any Warhammer tournament I can get my hands on. But this year I wanted to take part in more large "grand tournaments". Currently, the plan is to bring Skaven to all of these events, but that may change as the Ogres begin to see the painting table. Here is a list of some of the 5 game, 2 day BIG events coming up.

April - Adepticon (Chicago, IL)
http://www.adepticon.org/

Adepticon is not a GT, but rather 3 large tournaments in 3 days at the largest miniature wargaming convention in the US. Each tournament will have between 120 and 200 participants! The Adepticon Championships are 4 games at 2200 points, special characters allowed, and no comp. The Adepticon Big Brawl is 3 games at 3000 points, special characters allowed, no comp, no grand army rules. The Adepticon Team Tournament is 3 games of 2 teams at 1000 points, no special characters, no lords, but otherwise no comp.

May - Midwest Rampage (Peoria, IL)
http://midwest-rampage.jimemerick.com/

3000 points, no comp, special characters allowed, no grand army rules. This is a 40+ player 3000 point tourney similar to the Big Brawl. There is also a terrain contest where you can build a whole table's worth of terrain to get a home-field advantage and play on the table you created for the first game.

June - Blood in the Sun (Northbrook, IL)
http://www.bloodinthesun.com/index.asp

My favorite event from last year because of the awesome atmosphere. 2400 points, currently 64 player and possibly expanding. No comp other than no special characters. There is also a terrain contest and other ways to earn re-roll tokens to use once per game during your first 4 games, like turning your list in on time and paying on time. The 64 slots are already sold out, but they are starting a waiting list and possibly expanding up to 80 players!

July - Buckeye Battles (Delaware, OH)
http://www.buckeyebattles.com/

This will be my first attempt at heading to Buckeye, which has been a yearly trip for many members of the GLWL. 2200 points similar to Adepticon, with lots of comp restrictions. No special characters, limits on unit sizes and point costs, limits on magic phase power dice, limits on killer spells, and their own line of sight system that is not 8th edition rules. There is also a "banding" system that will have hard armies playing similar armies, and soft armies playing soft armies for the first 3 games. I don't like changes to the core rules of the game, but if I want to attend another closer GT this Summer I will have to deal with their rules! Last year they had 80 participants.


After these, I am looking forward to what Alex Gonzalez comes up with to replace Core Comp (which he ended last year) and possibly making the drive way up north to attend this year's North Star GT.

Gonna be a BIG year!

GLWL game 3

My third game of this year's Great Lakes Warhammer League was against the powerful Ogre Kingdoms, and I was not entirely sure what to expect. Because of the league comp I know that I would be facing a maximum of 1 Ironblaster but could possibly be facing 3 units of Mournfang, so I made my list accordingly.

Grey Seer, earthing rod, foul pendant
Plague Priest, furnace, dispel scroll
Chieftain, bsb
Warlock, doomrocket
Warlock, brass orb
30 Storm Vermin
30 Clan Rats
30 Clan Rats
40 Slaves
40 Slaves
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
5 Giant Rats, 1 packmaster
35 Plague Monks
5 Gutter Runners, poison, slings
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon
Hell Pit Abomination
Doomwheel

and my opponent's Ogre list


Tyrant, 4+ ward armor, asf sword
Butcher, L2 Maw, hellheart
Butcher, L2 Death, dispel scroll
5 Ogres, ahw
6 Ogres, ironfists
9 Ironguts, dragonhide banner
20 Gnoblars
4 Leadbelchers
3 Mournfang Cav
3 Mournfang Cav
Gorger
Stonehorn

Things got off to a poor start for the Skaven, who rolled the first turn. I was able to get a Skitterleap off and get my Brass Orb Warlock right behind the Stoenhorn, and position him so that he would hit the Stonehorn and 3 Ironguts if I hit, and the Stoenhorn even if I missfired. I rolled a hit! The Stonehorn then passed his Initiative test, though I did pick off 3 Ironguts. My cannons were quiet the first turn, missing their marks. After the Stoenhorn disappointment, I was sure luck was against me as the Hell Pit and Doomwheel were both charged on the first Ogre turn by long rolls from the Mournfang on the left and and Stonehorn on the right.

In the magic phase, I was able to hold off the Death snipes vs my Plague Furnace, which would be key to me winning the game. The Leadbelchers lined up the rain down on my Storm Vermin, and rolled 4 1's for their shots! In combat, my Doomwheel was defeated but my opponent chose not to chase me because of my 3d6 move, and because he didn't want to leave his flank open. My HPA took some serious damage after also only rolling 1 S6 hit that had its wounds dealth halved.

On the next turn, the game shifted dramatically. My Plague Monk horde slammed into one of the smaller Ogre units, and my cannons started lighting it up. It also helped that my Doomwheel rallied and turned to face the Mournfang now in their flank. I was able to shoot and take out 2 Mounrfang on the left, and another from the right unit. Magic was less effective as my Crack's Call is dispeled on double 6's, but the Plague Monks break and run down the Ogres and the Hell Pit's avalanch of flesh kill off the Stonehorn.

In the next turns I am able to flank charge the remaining left Mournfang unit with the Doomwheel and blast it off the table while the right unit is sniped by Warp Lightning. The Plague Monks slowly grind away on Gnoblars and the Ogres who flanked them the next turn, using Gnoblars as combat resolution needed to defeat and break the Ogres, running them down. The remaining Ironguts charge into my Clan Rats as I have set up a log jam for them and they sit there happy with their steadfast rolls.

I was able to hold this for another turn as my Grey Seer shot Crack's Call into the Ironguts and narrowly miss the Tyrant. They ground down Clan Rats and Slaves and I decide to bring in the Hell Pit to try and finish them off, which is risky. The HPA's impact hits kills the Irongut, but then the Tyrant finished his remaining wounds off. He then gets back up with 6 wounds on the last turn! This saves me his points lost, but does not give me the Tyrant as he is now the only Ogre model remaining on the table... with me only having lost a single Warp Lightning Cannon to a misfire.

Lots of key leadership tests and rallying, and taking out the Mournfang were the key to me winning this game. Every unit that broke on my side did not get caught, and eventually rallied. Every unit that broke for the Ogres was run down. My cannons were hot, and if they had not been having Mournfang in my flanks would have been a nightmare. I take away the big 2389 vs 265 win and advance to 3-0 in the 2012 GLWL.

Next up, Empire and then Dark Elves to finish up the league.

Hobby update

If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll know I have been busy with the hobby, and not with my Skaven. Well I still have another 40 Skavenslaves to paint for Adepticon, but I have been spending a lot of time putting my new Ogre army together! Here is the basic list I have together that I played my first game with this weekend.

Slaughtermaster
Firebelly
Bruiser BSB
8 Ironguts
6 Ogres
1 Sabertusk
1 Sabertusk
1 Sabertusk
4 Mournfang Cavalry
4 Mournfang Cavalry
4 Mournfang Cavalry
Ironblaster

It's the list that has been floating around the internet, but I love the idea of mass Mournfang Cavalry... and not so much the idea of the monsters. I also love the idea of a LOW model count army.

I have everything assembled, and I am looking forward to getting to work on it very soon, as soon as those pesky Slaves are painted! Maybe I will even have them done in time for Blood in the Sun!

Speaking of Ogre Kingdoms, my next GLWL is against the Ogres this Thursday. Until then, take a look at my converted Slaughtermaster. He is supposed to be wearing Glittering Scales and has the Fencer's Blades, so I wanted him modeled appropriately.

GLWL round 2

I actually played my 5th game second for the GLWL. Order doesn't matter so long as you get all your games in. This time I was playing Steve's Lizardmen. I changed my list up slightly from the last game to include a Warp Lightning Cannon for the possibility of facing Stegadons and one less Warlock, but otherwise my list was similar to last game. This will be a short report...

Steve's army was very Saurus heavy, with Light magic to buff them up to be combat powerhouses. Typical unit of Salamanders but what I didn't expect was the unit of Razordons. A few units of Skink Skirmishers I would have to deal with and some Terradons rounded out the list. Based on his fixed list and not having any other casters in his army, I knew Steve didn't have a dispel scroll, and he did not have Codgitation on his Slaan. This meant I would have a strong magic game.

I set up with my core towards the center and spread my magic out. He lined up heavy to my left with Saurus so I tried to deploy my strength to my right and wheel into his weak side through his support units. This sort of worked out as planned but I do think I could have deployed better.

Starting quickly things went down hill for Steve. First turn I put a Plague on the Temple Guard to weaken them for further magic. Normally this would be a few casualties, but rolls were on my side and half the Temple Guard were lost. As we advanced towards each other on the second turn, I got a combo charge that saw my HPA and Slaves both in combat against one unit of Saurus (giving the HPA the much needed rank support). I did this by maximizing the charge with my slaves and still leaving the corner of the front arc open so that my HPA could get in there.

On this turn the magic flowed freely as well. Another Plague forced my opponent to use the majority of his dispel dice to stop it. This left me open to cast and succeed with the 13th Spell on his Templ Guard, destroying them. I was ONE short of also taking out the Slaan with the spell.

In combat the Hell Pit and Slaves beat, broke, and ran down the Saurus. This left my opponents two main blocks defeated and the entire center of his army crumbled, with his Slaan out in the open. My opponent took a look at the battlefield at this point, and conceded the game.

Next up I have Ogres, then Empire and Dark Elves to finish out my season.


I was hoping to also have a tournament report with my new Ogre army, but there wasn't enough to hold this month's Gamers Sanctuary 2500 point event. Next month though I am attending 2 Adepticon Primers here in Michigan. March 3rd at Gamers Sanctuary in Flint, and March 4th at The Game Room in Saginaw.

I still have 40 Slaves to paint for Adepticon, but look for more pictures and posts about the Ogres soon! They just might make an appearance at Blood in the Sun this year.