TLTG:
So here’s a little background. We have a couple fairly active gaming clubs in the area, so there’s no real shortage of Warhammer tournaments. I’d say we get about one every month, with some months getting 2. The most recent one, a friend of mine who lives about a block from my house just missed best general with his high elves in a tournament otherwise thoroughly owned by demon players. He lives in an old house that was restored as a two family home, and inhabits the downstairs. The best part of living in a big old house is that there are random extra rooms to put warhammer tables in!
So anyway, from memory, here’s what was fielded for this game:
Chaos Dwarfs Practice Squad
Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer, Level 2, Power Stone
Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer, Level 2, Dispel Scroll
Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer, Level 2,
16 Chaos Dwarf Warriors, Full Command
16 Chaos Dwarf Warriors, Full Command
21 Chaos Dwarf Warriors, Blunderbusses
10 Hobgoblins, Wolves, Bows, Light Armor, Shield, Musician
2 Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers
2 Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers
8 Black Orcs, Full Command
5 Bull Centaurs, Heavy Armor
High Elves Ninjaing All Up Ons
Mage, level 2, the thing that lets you pick your spells
Mage, level 2, the thing that lets you take three spells
20ish High Elf Spearmen
10 High Elf Bowmen
16 White Lions
1 Lion Chariot
5 Dragon Princes
5 Dragon Princes
1 Bolt Thrower
1 Great Eagle
I was doing up some images so as to show off the map and deployment, but my computer at work doesn’t really jive with that, so unfortunately you’ll have to bear with me as I try to describe it. In both deployment zones were a hill. Two forests were roughly on my side of the board, one close to my hill and the other sort of in the middle of the other table quarter. There was a small piece of very difficult terrain (some rocks and branches and such) a little behind the first forest.
On the hill I deployed all four bolt throwers. Then, from left to right starting next to the hill, the Blunderbussers with one wizard, the black orcs, the first unit of warriors with the general wizard, the second unit of warriors with the third wizard, the bull centaurs, and lastly the hobgoblins just in general leadership range.
He positioned his bowmen and bolt thrower on his hill (surprise surprise) with the spearmen and white lions standing roughly in front of it. One wizard hung out with the bowmen, and another in the spearmen. The Dragon Princes got divided to one on each flank, and the great eagle stayed on the flank that included my hill. The Lion Chariot hung out between the other DPs and the white lions.
Magic:
General Wizard with Lore of Fire - Fireball, Flaming Sword of Rhuin
Wizard 2 with Lore of Death - Dark Hand of Death, Wind of Death
Wizard 3 with Lore of Death - Dark Hand of Death, Steal Soul (this was the guy closest to the hill)
Both of my opponent’s wizards took lore of death. I don’t remember exactly what spells were taken, but I know both had Dark Hand of Death. The spell picking wizard took Wind of Death and Drain Life, if I’m not mistaken.
I won the roll and advanced shamelessly. All the core units stumbled forward as fast as would allow, and my Hobgoblins and Bull Centaurs advanced until they were only barely behind the tree line. In my head playing Mathhammer, the Bolt Thrower couldn’t really do anything to earn its points back unless it shot cavalry, so I tried to avoid letting it get a shot at them.
My first magic phase I shoot out the back rank of spearmen and put a wound on the lion chariot. In my shooting phase I pop a cap in the great eagle, dropping it by one wound, and shoot out two of the Dragon Princes on the opposite flank. They pass panic, which makes me sad, and I pass the turn.
He maneuvers his Dragon Princes and Great Eagle a bit, and tries to magic me back. One wizard just utterly fails to cast, and the spell picker wizard miscasts and drops to level 1, forgetting Wind of Death in the process. Serves him right. The bolt thrower kills a single blunderbuss guy. The bowmen kill a single black orc.
I’m out of charge range with everything except hobgoblins, so I decide charging with hobgoblins is dumb. They maneuver behind the chariot and Dragon Princes, and line up to shoot up the enemy archers to flush out the character. Everything else except the bolt throwers and bull centaurs advance full movement. In my magic I smoke another rank of Spearmen, and take out a couple of the white lions. In shooting I manage to kill the Great Eagle, but don’t hit anything else.
He opens with a charge on the bull centaurs, who decide rather than die they’ll just run. They get away, barely, and the Dragon Princes wind up standing in front of my second Warriors unit, just out of my charge range. He shoots at my hobgoblin riders with magic and arrows, and they split like a bunch of wusses. My black orcs also eat some death magic and take off. Wimps. The Dragon Princes hanging out by my hill charge at my bolt throwers, using the banner of ignoring mild terrain features. I am pleased because they’ve more or less already earned their points back and now they’ll delay a full unit of DPs for four turns. 
On my turn the warrior unit about to be charged by DPs aligns itself to eat the charge. My bull centaurs rally, as do my Black Orcs, but the hobgoblins decide it’s time to leave and flee off the table. My other core continues onward, preparing to disect the White Lions thoroughly. In magic I manage to steal soul a wound from one of my opponent’s wizards, and I shoot out a few bowmen and white lions. The two unengaged bolt throwers take aim at the chariot and miss. My blunderbusses absolutely shred what’s left of the spearmen, and they decide to run away. They are unable to rally, but nothing else panics from them. The wizard in the warrior unit about to get hit by three Dragon Princes tries to deathify them, but it doesn’t take and they all survive.
On his turn the Dragon Princes and Lion Chariot charge my second unit of warriors, and the two wizards try to maneuver their way around magic missiles and blunderbusses. The now level 1 wizard tries to march block me by running around behind the blunderbusses. The white lions finally get to charge, and hit my black orcs. My opponent’s magic phase would have been good, but I burn a dispel scroll and throw four dice at something to make it go away. His shooting phase is horribly ineffective, and kills a blunderbusser or two. In combat, he butchers the third of my four bolt throwers, and the white lions filet some black orcs. The champion gets royally served, and I swing back with two orcs wielding double choppa, killing two white lions in return. They pass their leadership test on Dwarf leadership, and stick around. On the other side, the Dragon Princes kill only a single dwarf, but the chariot scores six impact hits and the lion eats two guys. I make a few armor saves, and he has slightly sub-par luck rolling for wounds. I wind up only eating six total casualties, and my champion manages to de-horse one of the dragon princes. I pass my leadership test easily after calculating rank, rank, numbers, flag.
On my turn the bull centaurs charge in to the dragon prince/chariot combat, unfortunately from the front instead of the flank. The unit of warriors with my general charge in to the white lions, which in hindsight is an awful idea but it worked out. The blunderbusses aligned to shoot out the archers. In the magic phase I try to much on the final wound on the spell-pickin’ wizard, but it gets dispel scrolled. I do manage to cast Flaming Sword of Rhuin though, which is what I was really hoping for. My shooting phase sees enough bowmen dead to force panic, but they pass. In combat, the bull centaurs kill another dragon prince, leaving one and the chariot. The princes and steeds kill nothing, but the lions kill two dwarves. I win combat and pout when the single dragon prince hangs around and the chariot flees. Worst result EVER. The white lions do a wound to my general, who in return kills two more. His retinue of standard warriors butcher another, and the black orcs prove to be strangely survivable as the flag carrier and musician remain standing. He passes his stubborn leadership though, and it’s on to his turn.
The chariot rallies, predictably, and the Dragon Princes who ate my artillery turn around to look at my largely abandoned table quarter. The wizard in the bowmen decides to run like a sissy and flees as far from the blunderbuss unit as possible. The other wizard tries to cast Drain Life and miscasts again, but only gets the S2 hit and it doesn’t kill him. The other wizard, bolt thrower, and surviving archers take advantage of the fact the bull centaurs killed the only dragon prince in base contact, and shoot everything they have at them. One bull centaur lives, and doesn’t panic. Bravo, good sir. The white lions fail to injure my general, who kills one more of them. The warriors kill another, and the black orcs finally get cut down. He passes stubborn leadership but is running out of dudes.
My turn the blunderbusses walk forwards and unload on the bowmen, forcing panic again. This time they fail and can’t rally. The single bull centaur runs behind my lines, in case I fail to Steal Soul the wizard with one wound. I manage to succeed in Steal Soul anyway, and chomp down the miscasting wizard. Flaming Sword of Rhuin is still on, so in my combat phase my wizard again chops down two white lions. I win combat again, and they pass again. The other combat the remaining Dragon Prince cuts down the wizard, but the unit wins combat anyway and pursues him. He gets away, and unfortunately I didn’t roll the 10+ I needed to hit the Chariot and deny it impact hits.
His turn shows the Dragon Princes who ate my bolt throwers trying to get back in the fight, but they’re just too far out. The chariot charges my warrior unit again, this time wizardless. The bolt thrower tries to pick off some blunderbusses, and only kills one. The wizard does exactly the same. In combat, my warrior unit gets mauled and overrun by the chariot. I kill more white lions, but they still won’t run.
My final turn sees the death wizard and blunderbusses trying desperately to reach the bolt thrower, but unfortunately I can’t get line of sight on Dark Hand of Death and I fail to Steal Soul a crewman. The Bull Centaur leaves the charge range of the Dragon Prince unit that’s still alive, and the general and his unit do their best to get out of harm’s way and contest a table quarter. I try to fireball his wizard, but it doesn’t go off.
He can’t declare any charges with the chariot or Dragon Princes, and the only other things left are his wizard and a Bolt Thrower that’s at this point moved behind the hill to avoid getting charged by Blunderbussers. His magic phase includes an irresistable magic missile, which does two wounds to the blunderbuss unit.
In the end, I get full credit on Spearmen, Bowmen, White Lions, 5 Dragon Princes, 1 Wizard, and the Great Eagle. He gets full credit on a wizard, a unit of warriors, the Black Orcs, the Hobgoblins, and the Bolt Throwers. Including flags and table quarters, I’ve got a slight lead but not enough to make it better than a draw.
Useful parts of this report:
I made a dumb mistake charging my Flaming Sword of Rhuin hero in to the white lions, but I prospered with idiot’s luck.
The three wizards magic phase was pretty robust, and I would definitely do it again.
Wolf riding Hobgoblins are something I’m not as certain on as I was before. They really need to be away from the battle line to be useful, but that far out they’re operating on garbage leadership and are still pretty flimsy to shooting.
I wish I took two units of ten hobgoblins naked to hold my own two table quarters or misdrect the Dragon Princes from my bolt throwers for two turns.
The super wide blunderbussers idea (7x3) was good in theory but in practice I’d actually rather have a small fire zone and a thin, maneuverable unit. I guess if I’m up against a hordetacular army like Skaven or Vampire Counts, I could just accept a lower strength and deploy them wider.
I think next time I’ll scrap the wolf riders, and take two naked units of hobs, spending the rest of the points to break up the 21 man Blunderbuss unit in to two fifteen man units. The small size of Black Orcs was accidental, as I showed up with a list upon which I did the math wrong, and had to cut something at the last minute!
Next week I get a practice game at full size (2250) against Vampire Counts. I’ll try to take some pictures of the actual game so I don’t have to describe the scene. 