Played 2 games Vs Empire today. Got a massacre 1st game and a solid victory 2nd game. Must admit that the dice gods were hostile to the empire, especially in the 1st game!
My list was " fast attack":
443 Chaos Dwarf Lord Great Taurus, Armour of the Furnace, Black Hammer of Hashut, Shield,
115 Sorcerer Dispell Scroll,Dispell Scroll,
78 Chaos Dwarf Hero, General, H Armour, Gt Weapon, E’d Shield,
181 Chaos Dwarf Warriors x 19: Standard,
180 Blunderbusseers x 15: ,
168 Blunderbusseers x 14: ,
20 Hobgoblins x 10
20 Hobgoblins x 10
20 Hobgoblins x 11
40 Hobgoblins x 20
140 Hobgoblin Wolfriders Light Armour Shields x 10: Musician,
140 Hobgoblin Wolfriders Light Armour Shields x 10: Musician,
156 Orcs with Shields x 21: Musician, Standard, Boss,
240 Boltthrower x 6
166 Bull Centaurs + Heavy Armour, x 6: Standard with War Banner,
141 Bull Centaurs Heavy Armour1 x 6: Standard
and I just noticed that I overcharged myself for the boltthrowers!
his was, more or less:
Arch Licker (in Gt Swords)
Warrior Priest with Swordsmen #1 (With 2 Detachments)
Captain with Swordsmen #2 (With 2 Detachments)
BSB (in Gt Swords)
2 units of outriders
cannon
Hellstorm
Stank
10 handgunners
10 archers (Scouts)
Game 1: I screened the BCs’ with wolfriders, and the infantry blocks with hobgoblins. I got 1st turn, moved the Taurus within 8" 0f the greatswords, who then failed the terror test & ran off the table (in their turn) complete with General and BSB! His cannon overshot the Taurus the Hellstorm scattered and they both got wiped out by my cav T2. The outriders were largely ineffective because of their placement on the flanks, which enabled me to stay out of range. the stank blew a boiler on T1! The blundurbusseers wiped out one sword unit, the BCs’ the other. The boltthrowers failed to hit the Stank till T3, but eventually killed it. My dice were average, he failed almost every roll!
I felt embarassed by his luck and let him go 1st in T2. I screened the BCs’ with wolfriders, and the infantry blocks with hobgoblins again .His Hellstorm blew up in T2, but the next turn he managed to shoot the Taurus out from under the Lord but not before the lord flank-charged a Sword unit, who failed their terror test and were caught. His Stank blew a boiler again (!) on T2 and again the boltthrowers failed to hit it untill T3, but eventually killed it. I avoided his outriders on the flanks again (their firepower is terrifying!) Then got a flank shot on one unit on T3 and killed 4. A single unit of blunderbussers killed half of one unit of swords in one volley, then repulsed the remainder when they attacked the next turn. the greatswords ran away again And 2 surviving wolf riders tied up the cannon for 2 turns before killin the crew. The 2nd unit of outriders and the handgunners wiped out the orcs over 3 turns, but, they were going to wipe out something, might as well be orcs! The Lord eventually sucumbed to sevel rounds of combat with a militia detachment. Ended up with a Solid victory.
Lots of fun (for me), but perhaps more a reflection of the whimsical nature of the dice-gods than any skill on my part.
Thanks for the write up! I appreciate you taking the time, especially with a Fast Attack army list. I’m thinking of building a similar list. Collecting is slow with CD!
I’m really surprised at how many swordsmen you took out with the bluderbussiers! I figure with a 50% chance of hitting…oh…I forgot about ranks increasing the strength. No armor save and wounding on a 2+. Still, it seems pretty nasty against ranked infantry units. I’ve not played a game yet, so I haven’t seen how deadly they can be.
Did your Lord really die after a few turns of fighting militia? They would hit on a 5+, wound on a 6, and still have to get through a 1+ armor save. Did the lord just whiff his attacks and then brick a LD check?
Yeah, that sounds like really bad luck on the Empire side of the table.
Thanks for the write up! I appreciate you taking the time, especially with a Fast Attack army list. I'm thinking of building a similar list. Collecting is slow with CD!
I'm really surprised at how many swordsmen you took out with the bluderbussiers! I figure with a 50% chance of hitting....oh...I forgot about ranks increasing the strength. No armor save and wounding on a 2+. Still, it seems pretty nasty against ranked infantry units. I've not played a game yet, so I haven't seen how deadly they can be.
Did your Lord really die after a few turns of fighting militia? They would hit on a 5+, wound on a 6, and still have to get through a 1+ armor save. Did the lord just whiff his attacks and then brick a LD check?
Yeah, that sounds like really bad luck on the Empire side of the table.
Groznit Goregut
By the horns of Hashut! I had him hitting my lord on a 4 and wounding on a 5! I must have forgotten about the short-term memory loss! Anyhow, I must have used his dice, my lord failed all his attacks and the subsequent Leadership test and ran 3 inches. His luck was like that both games!
Blunderbusseers can do phenomenomly well, or badly depending on the dice. Just like everything else. :cheers One volley took out about half a unit of 25 swordsmen, but another time they only killed 3!
Incidently, I use the blunderbuss units in pairs, angled so they both shoot at the same unit. (a "V" shape)
Mathhammer: So on average against 25 swords, from the first unit, 12.5 hit, 10.42 die (S5, no save), the 2nd units shoots at the remaining 14.58, wounds 7.29, another 6.08 die. So on average, My blunderbusseers will kill 16.5 of a unit of 25:hat. =panic test, 5 ranks become 1 (no rank bonus:hat off) possibly a dead champion and/or wounded hero (since 2 look-out-sirs will have to be done).
Even if he passes his leadership he has the option of charging my T4 L9 blunderbusseers, where I will have +2 for ranks and outnumber and flank charge him with the other unit the next turn. They are absolutely phenomenal against infantry.
His biggest failing was in his deployment of the outriders, they were on the flanks, with terrain alongside, so they could only shoot straight ahead, which made it easy for me to avoid them. The large number of deployments I had meant that I didn't put down any of my key units till his deployments were done. I was lucky with the bull centaurs, I would have preferred them in bigger units, make them more survivable.
The blunderbussier idea of using a “V” sounds pretty cool. I will have to remember that.
Always remember that the key to WS is you have to double them and then add 1 to make a difference. So, if they are WS 3, you need 6+1= WS 7 to make them need 5+ to hit you.
Groznit - Using blunderbusses as pairs makes them fantastic units - especially against t3 infantry - they can easily destroy ranked units in this manner and if the enemy has been slowed by an earthshaker they can even do this over 2 rounds and that will hurt even chaos warriors.
Just be aware of chariots or multi-wound models as they are the bane of blunderbusses
I would personally say that the most effective rare choice combination is a unit of 6 bull centaurs and a Earth Shaker - that way you have a fast hitty unit plus a warmachien that cna not only do significant damage but also control your opponents movement and shooting
I have had a lot of success using blunderbusses in pairs, my opponent usually try to send monsters and chariots after them not so I like to keep Bull centaurs or a good orc unit near for support. I presently just use musicians with my blunderbuss units. If I have more then 15 in a unit, I might consider a standard.
Giftzwerg do you use command groups in blunderbuss units?
Piccolo
A belated reply: no. But I have been giving some thought to giving a unit Standard and musician. T4 and 5+ save gives them some potential as a ranked infantry unit.