Warhammer Fantasy Championships 1-2

And now for the Main Event at Adepticon 2011: the Warhammer Fantasy Championships. 4 games in one day of Warhammer at 2200 points with very little restriction other than no special characters. To start, my list was similar to something I would normally run, but I risked my General by giving him a Power Scroll and guaranteeing one miscast per game if I used it. Here is the list

The list:
Grey Seer, Level 4 (3 Ruin, 1 Plague), Talisman of Preservation, Power Scroll
Plague Priest, Level 1 Plague, Plague Furnace, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon
Chieftain, BSB, Shield, Dragonhelm, Opal Amulet
Warlock Engineer, Doomrocket
30 Storm Vermin, Fang Leader, Musician, Standard, Storm Banner
30 Clan Rats, Claw Leader, Musician, Standard
40 Slaves, Musician
39 Slaves, Musician
30 Plague Monks, Bringer, Musician, Standard, Banner of Eternal Flame
5 Gutter Runners, Slings, Poisoned Attacks
5 Gutter Runners, Slings, Poisoned Attacks
Hell Pit Abomination, Warp Spikes
Warp Lightning Cannon
Warp Lightning Cannon

2199

As I walked around the room, I saw a lot of nasty looking lists (not that mine was a fluffy bunny). The only thing that really worried me righ off the bat was all of the double Hydra Dark Elf lists. The I sat down to my first table to find a double Hydra Dark Elf list!

Game 1: Dark Elves

My opponent had 2 Hydras, a Cauldron, General on pegasus, Cold Ones, block of spears, block of corsairs, repeater crossbowmen, and 2 units of shades. My opponent set up first with Dawn Attack with most of his army on my left. I set up with my entire army split, and only 1 unit deployed in the center.

I rolled and stole the initiative! It was now or never so I decided to do something rash to take the game early. Skaven plans NEVER fail...right? My Grey Seer cast Skitterleap and my opponent let it go off. What damage can a Grey Seer on his own do? I decided to place my Seer right in the middle of my opponent's lines, next to 2 Hydras. I then cast a Power Scrolled Crack's Call through both Hydras, all 6 Cold Ones, and his level 4. The first Hydra rolled a 1. The second Hydra rolled a 2. Heartbreak. Laughter. Lamenting the imminent death of my Grey Seer. But he survived! Ever with the Dark Elf Shades on his tail, the scenario rules were basically a Storm Banner, and on the Dark Elf turn I activated my own Storm Banner to stack with the effect.

Because my Grey Seer was in his lines, I actually marched blocked his Hydras. The were in a nice line, so on the second turn I shot my Warp Lightning Cannons. The first shot misfired and did nothing. The second shot went through both Hydras, doing 5 wounds to the first and 4 wounds to the second! A sigh of relief as the Grey Seer's failure did not cost me too much. With the Storm Banner active, my opponent could also not move his General into position to effect the game much until the third turn. By that time he had moved out into the open, baiting my Hell Pit Abomination. On my third turn I took a shot at him and the Cold Ones with my WLC, destroying the Cold Ones and revealing the reverse ward save pendant. Next turn I charged my Hell Pit into him and did ZERO wounds. But he did no wounds back, and I won the fight on combat res. My opponent then rolled and failed his leadership, and was run down by the Hell Pit's 3d6 random movement!

That was pretty much the game as my opponent had lost both Hydras, his General, has my HPA in his midst, and my Plague Furnace was mopping up archers and coming down his flank. Great game, crazy dice, and big win for the Skaven in round 1.

Game 2: High Elves

More Elves! Game 2 was against Chris Yu and his beautiful High Elf display that was Player's Choice. The Elves had a level 4 Life mage, Swordmasters, White Lions, Dragon Princes, a spearmen bunker, large unit of archers, a bolt thrower, and 3 eagles.

With my deployment I set up to take control of the center of the board, guard my flank from Dragon Princes with Slaves and a building, and move my Hell Pit and Furnace in from the flank. This game was almost entirely tactical movement, as we didn't get into any serious combat until the bottom of the third turn. My Storm Banner combined with Skaven magic kept his Eagles out of the majority of the game and I believe was a large factor to my winning. I saved spell dice each turn to keep the birds grounded.

Early on I tried to soften his small but elite numbers up with cannon fire and magic. I even ran my Hell Pit backwards rather than towards him on one turn in order to delay combat for another turn, and it worked out perfectly. My Gutter Runners nuetralized the Eagle and Bolt Thrower in the center of the board late in the game, and I made my moves.

He charged his Swordmasters into my Slaves that had moved up to protect my Grey Seer's unit. The Dragon Princes were into the Slaves that were hugging the building. The Archers had fled from a charge from the Storm Vermin and Furnace, and were out of play (but not out of the game). To counter, I finally unleashed the 13th Spell on his White Lions, that I had waited to use. They were taken down to manageable numbers, but then fled and were caught by my Gutter Runners. I fired Warp Lightning into the Slaves and Dragon Princes, recuding them to 1 knight eventually. The Hell Pit Abomination crashed into the flank of the Swordmasters and decimated them. His two main fighting units gone, the High Elves were effectively crippled.

Throughout the game, my strategy was to dispel Throne of Vines first and foremost. My opponent was very hesitant afterwards to throw 6 dice at Dweller's, knowing his Lord was unprotected. Finally he did decide to go for it, without Throne. 3 times he got Dweller's Below off on my Grey Seer's Clanrat unit. 3 times I passed the test with both my Grey Seer AND Chieftain BSB. This luck, combined with my wiping out the Swordmasters and White Lions, led to another big Skaven victory.

I was 2-0 going into game 3 against what turned out to be my nemesis of Adepticon: Vampire Counts! Next report with cover games 3 and 4, and my final standing.

WIP Arachnarok

Here is the post where I apologize for not having my Championships report up yet by posting why I didn't write my report this weekend. I was painting the Arachnarok! Here are the progress pictures I have from my weekend of spider painting.

Adepticon Results

I still have to post up my Championships review, but in the mean time the results have been posted on Adepticon's website!

Big Brawl (2-1)
22/73 Place, 36/60 Battle, 19/25 Paint, 30/32 Sports

Warhammer Championships (3-1)
23/143 Place, 65/100 Battle, 25/25 Paint, 31/32 Sports

Next year I think I may play all three days!

Adepticon Big Brawl Report

Here is my first event report from this year's Adepticon. The Big Brawl was a 3000 point, no comp tournament with only two restrictions: no special characters, and no Grand Armies. So not quite 'Ard Boyz, but close. I am having trouble finding my notes, so I will do the best I can. I did very well throughout the tournament, so lets get right into it!

Game 1 and my opponent is playing Orcs! What's that? He has Mangler Squigs? I thought Adepticon restricted the armies by a certain cut off date? My opponent didn't get the memo (or read the rules) and after conferring with a judge, anyone who was playing Orcs and Goblins were allowed to use either 7th OR 8th Edition Orcs, so long as they told their opponent which army they would be using. No problem, I started an O&G army just weeks prior, so I no what to kill (Mangler Squigs, lol).

Starting off, my opponent had a Warboss, lvl 4 Orc Great Shaman, lvl 4 Goblin Shaman, and Orc BSB. He had a large unit of Savage Orcs, a couple units of Night Goblins full of Fanatics, Black Orcs, 2 Orc Chariots, some Goblin Wolf Riders, 2 Rock Lobbas, a Doomdiver, a Giant, 2 pump wagons, and 2 Mangler Squigs.

I got hit early, and I got hit hard by magic. The scenario special rules stated whatever turn it was, if you rolled doubles of that number your spells would be irresistible force and miscasts just as if you had rolled double 6's!. First turn, Foot of Gork was cast on my Screaming Bell, then again, then again, and again, and again... EIGHT TIMES. Then he proceeded to hit the Bell with a rock lobba, and roll six wounds when I failed my ward save. Outstanding start to the day.

I deployed my Abominations to my right flank, and wanted to use them in combination with my Slaves. But my opponent had about 6 more deployments than I did, so his Mangler Squigs were screaming down the middle of the table. I was able to take both out with a single Slave unit, then once the coast was clear, take out his Giant with an Abomination.

My Plague Furnace was working over time on the opposite flank, fighting its way through the chaff to try and get to the Orc bunker of Savages. Things were looking dire all throughout, and an irresistible force Curse of the Bad Moon didn't help! I was really getting beat up by magic. Things turned full circle when we were running out of time, and I got my last turn. All game I had saved my power scroll, and slowly taken out a few Savage Orcs here, and a few there. On my turn 4 my patients payed off, and his bunker unit was down to only 15 models, including his Warboss, BSB, and Great Shaman. Irresistable (power scrolled) Curse of the Horned Rat warped his entire leadership core to turn the game from a 7-13 loss to a 13-7 win.

Game 2 came against a solid Warriors of Chaos list. It has a level 4 on a disc, a level 2 with Lore of Fire, 2 hell cannons, 2 units of hounds, 6 chaos trolls, chaos warriors of khorne with halbers, tzeentch with hw/shield, a unit of khorne chosen with great weapons, and 2 war shrines. There may have bee a couple other units in there, because again I was beaten on deployments. My strategy of large blocks worked this games as well, though. It also helped my opponent didn't roll Gateway.

From the start, I again new what my strategy would be against the Warriors. Lower their numbers with my tough items and spells that aren't effected by armor, then use the 13th Spell to finish them off. As the Warriors pushed forward through the center of the board, I deployed my Plague Furnace on the far right flank with the idea that as the rest of my army waited for the Warriors, it would have time to flank. The Hell Cannons were effectively neutralized the entire game by the Storm Banner and Gutter Runners harassing them.

Combat came and was bloody, but it was in the form of 2 Hell Pit Abominations smashing through the Warriors. Normally I try to combo charge HPA's with Slaves. Especially against Warriors, they can't often get the job done against steadfast unit. But also with Warriors, there is the danger of mass attacks just killing you. I initiated a frontal charge with my center-most Hell Pit into the Tzeentch Warriors, because I was much less worried about their killing power. Surprisingly, I smashed through the entire unit in two turns, including the level 2 Fire Mage. He died too early and was not able to do any damage to either Hell Pit, because I shut him down in the preceding magic phases. On the left, a poor roll by me and a good roll by my opponent left my HPA open for a flank charge by 7-wide Warriors of Khorne with Halberds. I thought I was in trouble, but miraculously survived with 1 wound after 2 turns of pounding them to dust to wipe them out. 7-wide hurts when every model touching the Hell Pit takes an auto S6 hit with no armor (roll of a 1-2 on the HPA chart).

The Plague Furnace was able to get in to the Warshrine on the right, and I was able to 13th the Chosen to weaken them before it hit the Furnace unit. It was sooner than planned, but I didn't want a full strength unit chopping away at it, Unbreakable or not. It stayed around long enough to let the first Hell Pit finish off the Tzeentch Warriors, reposition, and rear charge to wipe the Chosen. As the game wound down, we could see the writing on the wall. All three main blocks were destroyed, though my opponent still had his Trolls around. The game finished up as a 20-0 Skaven win.

Game 3 I was on table 5 against an interesting Vampire Counts list. He was using a Lord on a Zombie Dragon! He also had 2 Varghulfs, a Black Coach, Grave Guard, lots of Ghouls, and a few Vampires, one with the lore of Death. We set up, and the zombie dragon and a varghulf were on my right flank, with a varghulf on my left flank. I was content to hold the middle and push my Furnace, Slaves, and Aboms forward well supporting with my Bell and Grey Seers.

Turn 1 was a disaster. He pushed his Ghouls with a Vampire forward. Announcing Purple Sun, large version, Power Scrolled, I expected some damage... but not for my entire left flank to be demolished. Hell Pit Abomination has initiative 4, roll a 5. Plague Furnace has initiative 5 (Priest), roll a 6. Wow. I was definitely put on my heels from then on, rather than being aggressive. Still puching the advantage, the zombie dragon and varghulf were marching down the right flank (as I had activated the Storm Banner to stop him from flying). 2 misfires on the first turn meant I had lost my chance to take out the zombie dragon and Vampire Lord before he came crashing into my lines.

He was able to get his flying charge off on my Screaming Bell by turn 3. From there I was able to challenge and win combat by static res for anough turns that I did finally kill the Vampire Lord AND Dragon, but it was too late by turn 5. The rest of the Vampire army was able to get to my lines and the Bell was eventually taken out. It was disappointing to lose my toys so early when I knew it was horrid dice rolling by me that led to their demise. BUT, that is 8th edition, and I have certainly have taken advantage of the same strategies with the 13th Spell. To cry foul would be hypocritical. The game ended with some anti-climatic crumbling rolls that came too late to make a difference, and the Vampires won the match 17-3.

I have to say, for being a large Ard Boyz style event I had some excellent opponents. The games were all light hearted and fun, even when I was getting Purple Sunned off the 5th table! I can't wait until next year, where I think I will be taking my Orcs for the Big Brawl to switch it up and split the events. As far as results, I got high sports and painting scores to carry me to 23rd place (or so). I really take pride in high Sportsmanship scores, so I was glad to see I was at least a pleasure to play with. Until next year, though, I will just have to keep visions of Purple Suns in my memory before getting another shot at The Big Brawl.

Coming up soon, another battle report from the Adepticon Warhammer Fantasy Championships! 140 Players!!!

RHQ TV

Day 2 of Adepticon has been posted by Rankings HQ TV. Check the video out and see if there is a certain Skaven army you recognize (at 8:25 haha)!

Resin everywhere!

One of the great things about Adepticon are the great vendors I would normally have to view online. You can get a real "feel" for a rare-ish product when you can actually see it in person. I took advantage of the vendors about bought myself some Space Wolf reinforcements in the form of Scibor miniatures and Paulson Games.


If you have already seen my swag bag photos, you'll know I got a Khador Warmachine box set in mine. I hit up the CoolMiniOrNot booth to find some resin bases for when I painted them up. I did not make it very far, because I got hit in the face by some GREAT resin Space Wolf "counts as" models. I picked up a box of the 3 characters, and then enough more to fill out a full squad of 10 with matching shoulder pads, total.

Next up are the real gem. I have posted time and time again about different Thunderwolf options out there. I had originally planned on waiting on GW... but the deal in front of me this weekend was too good to pass up. I picked up a set of 3 Paulson games Thunderwolves. I am hoping to get them assembled this week and try them at Ordo Fraternitas' Chapter Night next Tuesday.

I also picked up a Forgeworld limited Chaos Dwarf that I am decided what I want to do with. He really is a beautiful model. I got a 40k Boarding Captain, but he is already spoken for. They WERE limiting them so that the first person couldn't walk up to the counter and buy every one to resell on EBay.

Resin!!!!!!

Adepticon 2011

Adepticon is OVER! I had an amazing weekend with lots of new and old friends. I appreciate everyone who recognized me and said hello, it was mind blowing. I was glad I was able to meet all of my favorite podcasters from Podhammer, Garagehammer, Point Hammered, Waaagh! Cast, and Bro Hammer. Especially Garage Hammer because I had a great time hanging out with them during the weekend. I was glad I got to meet so many names I see on forums every day. I spent most of my other non-gaming time starting trouble with the Dark Future Games crew after trying to win their battle force contest... and somehow I was offered a spot on their contributing roster of blogger. I must have gotten someone very inebriated. Look for me on their blog roll soon.

As far as games went, I will be posting tournament reports for both days of marathon Warhammering asap (probably Tuesday). Until then, take a look at my Twitter feed for all kinds of Adepticon coverage, and head over to Rankings HQ TV to watch their day 2 video (when they post it), where I was interviewed at the Warhammer Championships on camera!