tvandyke:
Game #4: Ogres
His army consisted of one big block of Ogres with GW (10 or 12 strong), one big block of Ogres with HW/Shield (10 or 12 strong), 1 unit of 4 Mournfang Cav, 1 unit of Ogres that could scout (5 strong), the big moving cannon thing, 2 sabertusks, 2 Butchers, BSB and a Slaughtermaster. This was my first game against the new Ogres and based on what every one was saying, I was worried I wasn’t going to stand a chance.
He got first turn, moved everything up (amazing how fast they feel they’re on top of you), the scouting ogres were threatening my whole left flank. He used his cannon to take out my Magma Cannon. On my turn, I moved my Destroyer to protect my flank from his scouting force and his Mournfang. I used my Deathshriekers to take out his big cannon (Did I mention how awesome these things are). I tried the Ash Storm/Flames of Azgorh combo, but he scrolled the first and I failed the second.
On his second turn, he moved within charge distance with pretty much everything and actually charged my destroyer with his 5 man scouting force (I think he was sacrificing the unit hoping to get few wounds and finish it off with the Mournfang on his turn 3). It didn’t work out. I didn’t take any wounds, broke the unit and chased, but didn’t catch the unit. On my turn, I charged that unit and caught it, but my destroyer was pretty far away from the main battle lines. I was able to kill one of the Mournfang with the Deathshreiker combo. In my magic phase I tried the Ash Storm/Flames of Azgorh combo again and it worked to perfection. I killed 7 ogres outright. He now had a unit with only 5 ogres and a butcher. His other unit was still intact. It was 10 strong with a butcher, bsb and the slaughtermaster. I chose not to charge, in fact I backed up my IG units hoping he’d fail his charge that I knew was coming.
His 3rd turn. He charged his Mournfang into the Destroyer (I was worried he’d leave it alone and move his unit into the flank of my IG since the destroyer was a turn away from getting back into the fray). It didn’t work out well for him. Destroyer won the combat, broke and ran down the unit. He charged both of his ogre blocks (one of which was a lot smaller) into both of my IG units, but only the smaller block made it (into my IG with the bsb), the big scary block failed. I won combat and broke the unit, but didn’t catch it. On my turn 3, I charged the fleeing unit and caught it. I moved my Destroyer into position for a turn 4 flank charge into his big unit. I then tried for the 3rd time the Ash Storm/Flames of Asgorh combo. He dispelled Ash storm, but I got off the FOA, rolled another hit, and killed 6 ogres including his BSB (he failed his look out sir). I killed another with the Deathshriekers and he conceded. Big Win for the Chaos Dwarfs.
Game #5: Vampire Counts
His list was very similar to the first army I played but he had a Terrorgheist instead of the Vargheist unit and a big block of Grave Guard instead of the Black Knight bus. He was also using a unit of Ethereal Cavalry instead of Spirit hosts. He had a big block of Skeletons, Ghouls (no zombies) and the Mortis Engine. His Vamps and Necros were all in his Grave Guard block.
I got first turn (was this the first time all tourney where I went first?). I aimed my Destroyer towards his ghouls (it was a 400 point unit and it seemed to work well in the first game). My Taur’ruk left the bull unit so that he could intercept the Hexwraiths in case they tried getting to my destroyer. I rolled low for magic, had enough for a fireball and killed 3 of the 6 hexwraights. I misfired my Magma cannon, re-rolled it and miscast again but at least it didn’t blow up. I focused both my Deathshriekers on the Terrorghiest. Two direct hits, two failed regens, but only 5 wounds, damn, one wound left. On his turn he moved everything up, tried to scream at the Destroyer with his Terrorghiest but was 9" away instead of the 8" he needed.
On my turn two, I charged the Terrorgheist with my Taur’ruk. I thought I could get a single wound and finish it off. I moved my Destroyer closer to the ghouls. In my magic phase, I cast ash storm on the Mortis Engine, then hit it with a 2d6 fireball, caused 4 wounds, that turned into 8. When the mortis engine dies, it explodes in some way causing 3d6 (maybe it was 2d6) S2 wounds to everything within 12". The last two Hexwraiths died and against all odds, the Terrogheist took 2 wounds (he rolled 11 hits, 2 wounded and he failed one of his regens) which finished it off. My Taur’ruk didn’t even get to fight. On my remaining turns, I basically ate the rest of his army. With all the big stuff out of the way, I was able to use my deathshriekers template weapons and magic on the rest of his units. By the time my IG got into combat with them, it was all over. The destroyer ate the big ghoul unit, then helped out finishing the Grave guard. My bull unit helped finish his skeletons. It’s the only time in 20 years playing this game that I remember actually killing every model against undead. Very big win for the Chaos Dwarfs and a very nice Sunday.
I finished with 67 (out of 100) battle points and ended up 27th in the tournament. Not great, but not bad either. My soft scores were decent. I definitely need more practice with the army. The Deathshriekers killed something big every single game and in some cases killed multiple big things. I very rarely had the opportunity to use the template since everyone had something big to shoot at (the dwarf player just had other war machines, but they’re still a great target for the single S8 shot). The Magma Cannon was just mediocre. It would have been great against the ogre army but got taken out in the first turn. I put Hellbound on the magma specifically thinking the magic shooting would come in handy. It helped a little, but I wonder if it was worth the 25 points. The Bull Centaurs were just okay. I’m thinking they’d be just as good without the Taur’ruk and maybe add the flaming banner (lots of trolls, plaguebearers around). Either that or replace them with Fireborn. I’ll probably drop the Taur’ruk, maybe one of the Deathshriekers (makes me sad since they were my MVP’s) and try out the Iron Daemon. That way I’ll have my Daemonsmith only manning two war machines instead of 3 while my 3rd war machine (Iron Daemon) is down getting dirty with the troops. I’m thinking that if I just put it smack in the middle of my two IG units that the whole charging in a straight line thing won’t be much a problem. The ID should be able to respond to anything attacking the IG. I think the Lore of Hashut is amazing and works really well with flaming attacks from the rest of the army (Fire magic and war machines). I’m not changing a thing from that perspective. Lore of Hashut on my Prophet and Fire on my Daemonsmith was perfect.
. He killed my hobgoblin block (or should I say road block), but I had him tabled bottom half of turn 4.