Redhammer:
Well, I had a 1000 point (mostly proxied) plus lords game of Chaos Dwarfs versus Skaven. We took a 1000 point force and then tacked on the Lords we wanted to try out so badly (My Lord on Great Taurus, his Lord on Screaming Bell) and let them loose!
Our armies were as follows:
The Dawi Zharr!
Lord of Taurus
BSB
Level 2 Sorcerer
24 Warriors
20 Blunderbusses
Death Rocket
Earthshaker
5 Bull Centaur
versus
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell
2 blocks of 25 Stormvermin
15 Gutter runners
Plagueclaw catapult
Doomwheel
We ended up rolling a bit of terrain, including a mystery river (ended up being a river of light) and 3 mystery forests (abyssal woods, normal forest, and never explored the third), as well as a watchtower near the center of the board and some ghost fences up on my side of the board.
He got first turn, and marched quite a few of his units into the river. One of the gutter runner bands (he had them in 3 groups of 5) got obliterated by a banishment roll, and the rest of his units fared fine. The Doomwheel went a mere 5 inches, much to my delight. His plagueclaw opened up but scattered far behind my Dawi, leaving a stinking mess behind my line. The Screaming Bell did something of no consequence… I don’t even remember what roll he got! He also managed to get the Dreaded 13th spell off (costing his Grey Seer 2 wounds due to warpstone tokens!) and only killed 10 dwarf warriors off of it! I counted it as good for me.
My first turn my Great Taurus got into a flanking position and my bull centaur charged one of the forward gutter runner units. My Sorcerer stepped forward and tried to summon some fire, but his Grey Seer put an end to that dream. A breath attack from the Great Taurus hit nearly the whole stormvermin unit that pushed the screaming bell, killing eight of them after some fortunate rolling and inciting a panic! The Rocket and Earthshaker completely missed, and the earthshaker didn’t even get any enemy with its slowdown radius. The gutter runners rolled quite nicely, killing three bull centaur before they were thankfully slaughtered and run down.
His second turn was a bit better, and his first stormvermin unit rallied while his second charged the poor bull centaur. They didn’t have a chance against the high volume of attacks, and dropped dead, causing an overrun to bring the unit dangerously close to my warrior’s flank. His magic went very well, and the screaming bell struck harshly, hitting my war machines with devastating effect. My Death Rocket crumbled under the sound, and my Earthshaker lost a crewman. He also managed to half kill my Taurus with some magic blasting. The plagueclaw struck this time, killing four of the blunderbussers.
My second turn saw the Great Taurus charging the unit with the Screaming Bell, bellowing curses at the ratmen. My Sorcerer deftly dealt with the last gutter runner unit with a contemptuous burning head, sending them fleeing off the table. The warriors rotated to face the second block of stormvermin and the blunderbussers got into position to ensure a failed charge would be costly indeed. My Earthshaker rolled the dreaded misfire, and managed to turn into a pretty firework rather than a machine of doom! My Lord on Taurus did not disappoint, slaughtering the Stormvermin unit with an impressive dealing out of damage and a whopping 5 for his thunderstomp. In panic and fear, the Grey Seer called for the retreat, getting his rat ogre pushers to remove him from the battlefield. With his lord gone on turn two, things appeared to be looking quite good for me!
His turn three saw the remaining stormvermin roll a 5 and a 6 for their charge check, and easily make it into close combat. The combat sees very little death, but due to his magic banner he wins combat by two. Thankfully, my BSB is able to convince the warriors to hold their ranks. The Doomwheel sputtered again, and failed to reach anything close to combat, and shot a single blast towards my lord on Taurus, failing to wound the dwarf atop the beast. The catapult scattered wildly again, preventing any damage from being done.
Now that his Lord was no more, he was in dire straights. I had my blunderbussers charge the last stormvermin unit’s rear and my lord of Taurus line up for a rear charge should they survive another turn. My sorcerer, now left to deal with the doomwheel, puts a tremendous amount of power into his next spell (I rolled 4 6’s on 5 dice!). The miscast causes him a wound, and then the spell fails to wound its target. Combat goes very well for me, and the stormvermin are unable to win combat but hold their ground in a shocking display of bravery for rats!
His final turn saw the demise of my sorcerer as the doomwheel, with its first ever good movement roll, bounded into him, crushing him underneath its weight. His stormvermin are unable to hold this time, and lose a considerable amount of rats, breaking in the process. After this it was fairly clear who the winner was, and he conceded.
It was a fun game, and a great first experience for the Dawi Zharr!
Things I learned from this game -
First, I still have a bit to learn about these guys. I didn’t get to try out slaves and the only ranged attack that did anything the whole game was the Taurus breathing fire. I want to try out more ranged options!
Second, Blunderbussers are good in combat! Not as good as warriors, as they die a little easier, but they are capable multitaskers.
Third, I got lucky this game, but I have a feeling that the Screaming Bell could do some MUCH more harmful things to me!
Fourth, I’m still wrapping my head around casting magic, as I am a primarily Dwarf player. I think I need more than just the Lore of Fire to be truly effective though.
and that’s that for now! A great first game, and now I’m excited more than ever to build my Chaos Dwarf army!