NZTC day two

Well as i stated, day one didn't quite pan out as we had really hoped. However i had high hopes going into the 4th round as we were up against the Basiliers, a team from Christchurch who i had experience versing from my two years down south. here we go...

GAME 4: Rhys Hodgson (Basiliers)

Out of the four players, Rhys was the only person who i had never versed, so i didn't quite know what his play style might be. Since he was running a Throgg list with plenty of chaff and both an unkillable lord and unkillable bsb i decided to bunker in a corner with my riders out on the far flank. I was lucky to get first turn and took off half his chaff. Rhys, seeing that i didn't choose to advance on him, decided the better part of valor was to back up and conserve his points. nothing really happened in the majority of the game but Morathi did manage to death snipe his Sorcerer Lord from a bunker of marauders. In the end i won by about 15-5 as he got my shades while losing all his dogs and his wizards. however the other games were close, with Sam beating Mikes orcs but Basil crushing Fern and hamish getting schooled by greatswords (we gave him a bit of shit don't worry) in the end we won the round by about 43-37 (i cant remember exactly). we were happy with the result, at least it wasn't another 20 pointer.

GAME 5: Ross Hillier-Jones (Wolf Pack)

Chaos Lord on Disk, BSB on steed, Throgg (but with only one unit of trolls), Hell Cannon, Crushers. Not what i would call the most normal Chaos list. However this was the round of ACME style comedy for the Wolf Pack. Hamish threw a massive sook about being paired up with Locky's Skaven even though he had green lighted the match at our pre-tournament meeting. first turn saw, on table one (Hamish V Locky) : exploding Skaven artillery, table three (Fern V Jeff) exploding cannon and STEAM TANK! and table four (me V Ross) rampaging Hell Cannon (don't worry, it blew itself up turn two, alongside Locky's Bell). This game went from bad to worse for Ross, as i slowly encircled his entire force. By slowly i mean i was in his rear by turn three, resulting in the most epic single combat in any of my games. Throggs Trolls, who had been harboring the BSB since the start of the game and the Lord after he realized he was dangerously encircled. All my Executioners attacked the front, the Master with the ward save hit them in the flank while Morathi and a unit of warlocks smashed into their rear. in the end he had Throgg, one Troll, and his Lord and BSB, who were promptly run down by the warlocks and Morathi. In the end it was a 20-0, and this round saw us all win once more (me and hamish defiantly 20-0 our opponents, and the other two won but i don't know by what.) so another 60-20 saw us rocket back up the field. we were so very happy at this point, what could possibly go wrong.

GAME 6: Paul Davison (Grumpy Old Men)

Paul was down from Auckland for the weekend, and we had a great chat about the difference in the tournament scenes in the north island. However not before Teclis led his High Elf brethren in great slaughter of the Druchii. 4 Bolt Throwers, Enough horsemen to rampage all over mine, some Eagles and a big block of  White Lions to soak up all of his miscasts (and their were alot of them, damn that banner of the world dragon). we dealt to each others cavalry by turn three while his Bolt Throwers conducted intense counter battery fire. it all came down to two moments, where the Executioners were in a position to crush the white lions, only to lose half their numbers to the irresistible dwellers (sigh), and where the destruction of my shades (after five rounds of fire) panicked my Corsairs who were preparing a 6" charge into the artillery... in the end it was a well executed game and a crushing 15-5 to Paul. this round saw another tie, as it was practically a 40-40 (it might have been a point or two either way but that doesn't matter as much in the end.)

So we ended the weekend on 7th place, pretty much bang in the middle, which was a far cry from our 11th or 12th position we had managed a year previously. with two major wins, two major losses and two draws we were at least content with our results, as it showed we had the potential to really refine our tricks and come back swinging next year. you will see us again. Now, until Nationals, I'm signing out. Remember to play hard and rattle 'dem bones.

Finally getting round to NZTC games

Well here we go finally, its been over a month now and i'm only now doing a write up of the NZTC. Hopefully this means its now new again and people want to read about it. here we go

ARMY: DARK ELVES

Morathi

Master with battle standard bearer with a 1+ armour save

Master on a Pegasus with a 1+ armour and 4+ ward

Master on a Pegasus with a 1+ re-rollable armour save

31 Corsairs with additional hand weapons, full command and the banner of discipline

5 Dark Riders with repeater crossbows, shields and a musician

5 Dark Riders with repeater crossbows, shields and a musician

29 Executioners with full command and the flaming banner

3 Repeater Bolt Throwers

5 Shades with great weapons

5 Warlocks

5 Warlocks

What i realize now is it's pretty much a net list, but in my defense i would have had a mutiny on my hand (from a certain Empire player) if i had taken anything else (i myself was leaning more towards a Malus Darkblade list). We were picked to do brilliantly by Pete, and we just had to prove him wrong (again). As a team we decided to have the lowest scorer per round wear a blond wig and tiara (be the "beauty" shall we say) 

so here we go

GAME 1: John Murrie (team Buckethead)

The first game saw me paired with John's Ogres, which is an army i have versed 3 times in all my years of wargaming (i know right, once in 7th and twice in 8th). Irongut bus with BSB and Slaughtermaster, beast wizard in a 6 Ogre unit, 3 Ogre unit, 5 Leadbelchers, 4 Mournfang, some puppy's and a Blaster. Let me tell you i have learned to HATE Leadbelchers from this game. John had a convenient building on his flank to slip them into and he ravaged my chaff with them. if i remember they accounted for a bolt thrower, both units of dark riders  and far too many Executioners. however on the flip side John had terrible luck with his Gutstar, losing 5 Ogres in one round to the Executioners, then failing the LD9 re-rollable break test in the second round. in the end we cleaned up alot of each others miniatures, but the numbers ended up with the dark elves just out in front with a 13-7. John, as always, was just a great guy to play against and his ogres gave me a few things to think about visa vie my fast cavalry. Unfortunately i won the round by the smallest margin (never thought that was gonna occur) and so i donned the wig. having minced the full 60 points for the round, we were feeling like kings of the field, until...

GAME 2: Nick Hoen (Team with the guy...)

The "Guy" himself, Nick was a powerhouse over the weekend, and our game was no exception. High Elves packing a Silverhelm bus, a Dragon Prince bus, a Prince on a Dragon (extremely impressed with this dude), chaff, and two frosties. before i had even moved i was scrambling to preserve points as with one spell (flames of the phoenix) i was down to 9 executioners. this was compounded by having his buses not 10" away with a very light screen of chaff between us. in the end i picked up one of his frosties and his chaff, but lost nearly everything but my ward save peg and the corsairs (who were hiding in a building). a 16-4 or 17-3 loss (for the life of me i cant quite remember) and the team only getting just above the bar (23 points or so)  brought us back down to earth. this was a huge learning curve as i have versed high elves alot, but only twice in 8th, and i didn't quite realize how dangerous their spell lore could be. You guessed it, the wig was staying on...

GAME 3: Glen Burfield (Stonesfall Massive)

Daemons. Wont. DIE. I play daemons enough that i knew how to verse them, don't rush forward, chaff them out and force them to close with you. well hell that didn't really work. i lost all my artillery in the first turn to a combination of the reign of chaos (that also killed a unit of Dark Riders) and the Skill Cannons and all my chaff to the machinations of his blue horrors. highlights for me was a beast of Nurgle taking 3 turns to force 5 Shades from a building, and then having to send another in to finish them as he didn't want to lose the Beast. all in all it was a 20-0 for Glen, and in this round the rest of the team did not much better (we completely stuffed up our matchmaking and were punished for it)

first day saw us sitting on 100 points, huge improvements were needed for us to place, and we were willing to come out guns blazing day two. but that is for the next post...

Who wants a Tank?

ever felt like driving round in a M4A3 Sherman? How about a 2pd attack carrier? even better, what about a SCUD missile launcher? well in July you really could as some of the Littlefield Collection goes under the hammer over in California. a Hummer, a Stuart, an 88", a Toad, Valentine, M37. the only thing their missing is the German Giants like the Panzer IV and the Tiger for pure Awesomeness. Unfortunately the reserve for the SCUD A is $300,000, But it would be cool to drive down a street with a 2pdr cannon on the back.

Well that was entertaining...

well howdie folks, its been far too long. How are you all? Did Christmas bring you all the miniatures you asked for? Working my arse off over the holidays while preparing my new Dark Elves for a stroll through the wild fields of battle left me with very little time in which to actually do any blogging (that and topics that had not been discussed to boredom were few and far between). But lo, I am back now, and ready to jump straight in the deep end. 

~those bloody Aussies, coming here and stealing our things again

Unless you have been living under a rock (or are more inclined towards game systems like 40K and FOW) you would know that the 2nd annual New Zealand Warhammer Teams Championship (hereafter referred to as the NZTC) took place last weekend to much excitement and gnashing of teeth. I myself was put in charge (some would say under a puppet regime) of the Beauty and the Beasts, the Kapiti Wargames Club committee team. consisting of Sam Campbell (using his favorite cologne of eud de la Nurgle Daemons), the beauty in the team Fern Campbell (rocking Hamish's "push it forward" Throgg list), Hamish (how many chickens can i fit amongst this light council and artillery park? ) and the eponymous hero of the piece, Me (with a can opener of a Dark Elf list).

Overall the team did quite well, though the kiss of death from Pete Dunn (why did he have to pick us, why) and a round or two of match up fails left us with two overwhelming victories, two soul crushing defeats and two close draws. We finished the weekend in 7th place on 252/360 possible points (7 points behind the infamous Vonn Traps on 259). Unfortunately, and in a complete U-turn from last years event, the Aussies from The Team With The Guy managed to rampage home with 315/360 possible points (meaning they averaged 52.5/60 points in each round! ouch). 2nd was taken out by the decidedly unsexy tank tops of Shirts Off and 3rd was snaffled by the DILFS (yes, it is what you think it means, and no, they weren't)

I will be back in the next couple of days with how my games in particular went and changes leading up to the National competition in Christchurch (three days of wargamming in a club that i really enjoyed attending in my times down south, anyone who can i recommend should head down to it, its gonna be a blast!) but in the meantime, stay gamy, and rattle them bones!

i would like to also put a shout out to Herman at Trouble In The Border Provinces for the photos, check him out in the tabs on the side
 

Character Wars: Snagla Vs Gittila

well the New Zealand blogs were, for a few weeks their, wailing on the special characters of warhammer. I could not see the reasoning myself, as their was only (in my humblest of opinions of course) two characters who were breaking the current game, and one of those was only their because no one wants to spend any points on flaming these days. One Thursdays musings led me to decide to test various special characters to see what was so wrong with them. So first to face off on the battlefield were the new and diminutive characters of the Orc & Goblins book, Snagla Grobspit and Gittila the Hunter.

Gittila the hunter or Snagla Grobspit, choices choices!

Points Cost:

Gittila: At 110 points for a special character he is definitely in the cheep and cheerful category. many state that the need to take a unit of wolf riders offsets this low points cost but I see it as a moot point anyway, you wouldn't run Gittila without a unit of wolf riders would you, that just wouldn't make sense.
Snagla: Coming in slightly higher at 115 points, Gittila seems to have the advantage here. Once more Snagla shares Gittila's need to bring a mob of spider riders with him. Again you wouldn't take one without the other, so there’s no point crying about added points from this.

Abilities

Gittila: Gittila's skill set is made for one thing and one thing only, the death of 1000 cuts. Granting himself and his unit BS 4 and the quick to fire rule is a strong opening for any character, but when seen in the context that this is being added to a unit that already has the fast cavalry rule and a movement of 9" makes Gittila's "Howlerz" an annoying threat at least and a death sentence at best. As Ulda, Gittila's great wolf, allows the unit to re-roll flee or pursue rolls the Howlerz are not too shabby at mopping up other units leftovers as well.
Snagla: Snagla's skill set is made for the polar opposite of Gittila. He is a combat trooper pure and simple. Granting his unit the ambush rule, this though it is a risky ability to use is a great mental game to play on your opponent and might force him to completely redesign their game to avoid a fast unit in their rear. Ambush is not the only bonus to his arsenal, as the unit itself (known as the death creepers) also gain devastating charge, cause fear on the charge and have the hatred (Empire) rule. The last is very circumstantial but as it does not state rider only then on the charge both rider and mount are gaining an extra attack. This makes them more than capable of taking on units other goblin riders would go nowhere near, especially as if played right you will be behind the enemy at this point in time.

weapons

Gittila: well not as great here in my opinion. Gittila gets a magic piece of armour and a special bow. Gittila's armour, the Gruntalope skin armour, grants him a 4+ armour (bringing it up to a 3+for mounted) makes him a bit of a tank as goblins go. His Bone Bow is a multiple shot 3 bow, so a longer range than most Goblins can get. However multiple shots does bring his high BS back down a bit, so he didn’t hit quite as often as his unit.

Snagla: Snagla wins the weapon wars here quite frankly. With the Fangspike and sting of Snagla he has a good chance of bringing down most monsters, and can cause headaches for lightly armored characters. The Sting of Snagla is why I would primarily cast him as a pure combat dude as it is a one shot thrown weapon (though he is S4, so it hits slightly harder than most O&G shooting). With poisoned and D3 wounds it can cause some damage to multi wound creatures. The Fangspike is a hand weapon with the poisoned and D3 wounds ability. Let’s face it; with 3 attacks (4 on the charge) he can make problems for light armour multi wound creatures (like ogres).

Impact on the game

Well to be honest I want to give this to Snagla for a major reason. When it comes to the Orcs and Goblins, it’s really a go big or go home situation, as they are clearly designed to go into combat. In my experience darting round and shooting your opponent won’t allow you to win big (unless you are a dedicated gun line army like some I could mention). You have to be able to break the enemy in close combat if you’re going to get the big points, and the disruption that Snagla can cause combined with his strength in close combat makes him my pick of the better of the two. I know many might disagree but this is my feelings on the matter

So though he is the more expensive (by 5 points undoubtedly) in my opinion Snagla is the better Character overall, though with bad rolls he might not come grace your battlefield at all. When he works he is a better combatant than Gittila and more likely to turn a combat in your favor. Sure Ulda can turn a route into a massacre but for sheer damage potential I would much prefer the king of the gribbles to the wolf lord any day

Too many coices

Well i have almost nailed the list that i think will be both fun and competitive for the Dark Elves. I would hate to be on either end of these which is always a good indicator. Maybe i will do one and then the other latter on. Who knows. I'm rambling now. List one (the most likely list) is...

Malus Darkblade

Supreme Sorceress (lvl 4, shadow)

Master BSB (cold one, 1+ save, other tricksters shard, dawnstone)

Master (cold one, 1+ save, ring of hotek)

Sorceress (lvl 1, fire, scroll)

33 Corsairs (2 hand weapons, full command)

2*5 Dark Riders (repeater crossbows, shields, musicians)

11 Cold One Knights (full command)

29 Executioners (full command)

3 Repeater Bolt Throwers

No subtlety at all but plenty of hitting power (what is happening to me that i would come to this list first).

The second list is...

High Beastmaster (scourgerunner chariot, charmed shield)

Supreme Sorceress (lvl 4, shadow)

Master BSB (sword of might, 1+ armour, dawnstone)

33 Corsairs (2 hand weapons, full command)

2*5 Dark Riders (repeater crossbows, musicians)

3 Hydras (flaming breath)

3 Repeater Bolt Throwers

2 Kharibdyss

 

So how many hydras can you kill?

thought it would be a bit of fun really.

what do people reckon? plausible?

Skitterleap 2013

Ow ow ow ow ow, just five ways of describing the weekend. High praise for Sam for his laid back approach to running the tournament (helped by the majority of the players being able to sort their own problems out without having  to resort to the TO) and the introduction of the new paint score chart (a great way of getting feedback on your army and where you can go from here on) led to a great, if bloody weekend.

Unfortunately I forgot to bring batteries for my camera to the event (no, I don't have a smart phone yet. phones should be for calling, computers for internetting and camera's for picturing. Call me a dwarf if you want but its better to be specialized and not a jack of all trades) so i do not have any pretty pictures for you to puruse at your leasiure, you will have to make do with this pictures relating to my opposition...

1: Mike King; Lizard men (Dawn Attack)

Slaan, far too many Skinks for my liking, two ancient Stegs (with adorable baby Stegs in tow), temple gaurd and terradons. i was forced to deploy mainly on my left flank while mike was forced to deploy mainly center-left . the game swung a bit during the middle of the game but for a few very unlucky rolls mike lost his flank (Kroxi-Skink unit, ancient Steg and 3 Skink units) and lost the second ancient Steg to a carress and the great weapon of the Wight King and then had his temple gaurd charged in the front by the vamp and his ghost riders and the flank by some ASF Skellies (yay the Corpse cart did something). in the end the dust settled with a 15-5 victory to me. this was actually quite annoying for me as it ment i would have to Vs the lists i didn't want to like...

2: Caleb Rouse; Chaos Warriors (Blood & Glory)

Yaaay. I play near his list most weeks (the only problem at the club, no fluffy games) vsing Hamish. Nurgle Daemon prince, unkillable BSB, Throgg, 8 Trolls, 2 Chariots, 2 Chimeras, 3 Skull Crushers. he picked the side that had the only building, leaving me nowhere to hide from his monsters, chariots and cav. Yeah. So Scaedugengan did well to turn the flank while the Black Coach held up the Daemon Prince and Throgg for two turns. Scaedugengan then came in with the wraithes and ended up killing Throgg in combat while the wraiths dealt with the rest of the unit. Scaedugengan then did the impossible and KILLED THE UNKILLABLE BSB. However he could not pull off a perfect set and was killed (as usual) by the Daemon Prince. while this was all happening the Chimeras ate a unit of Zombies each and the Skeletons where walked over by the Crushers. in the end i had a unit of wraiths left. that's it. 0-20 (back to my usual performance).

3: Hamish Forbes; Ogres (Watchtower)
Hamish was running the dead 'ard (to use an Orc term) Ogres gutstar with a Slaughtermaster, Butcher, Firebelly, Bruiser, 11 Ironguts, 6 Bulls, 4 Leadbelchers, units of 2 and 4 Mournfang the Doggies and a Cannon. Now this was a case of READ THE RULES, as Hamish got the tower and proceeded to garrison it with the bulls. this was WRONG as only infantry can man it. this was huge as i would have been able to push my Skellies into it and hold it indefinitely. oh well. he moved the bulls out, the Ironguts in, and then was crapping himself as Scaedugengan came in turn after turn, slaughtering the butcher, then the bruiser, and then putting the Slaughtermaster on 1 wound. while this was happening he lost his Leadbelchers, large Mournfang and Bulls to ONE unit of Wraithes, as the other was magiced off the field. Hamish breathed a huge sigh of relief as the game came to an end at turn 6 as he could not survive another round of combat. without the tower it would have been a 11-9, with it he got a 15-5.

4: Charlie Lloyd; Dark Elves (Battle for the Pass)

Poor poor Charlie, mine was the worse list he could ever have drawn. a Khainite list led by Crone Helebron herself, and she was packing the only magical gubbins in his list. This turned into the coolest game of the weekend as it all came down to one redeeming combat, where Crones unit was completly surounded. with Skeletons in the front (that a hydra had failed over three rounds to do any damage to), Hex Wraithes in the flank, a Black Coach in the OTHER flank and Scaedugengan in the rear. Scaedugengan challenged out Crone (drawing Sam's attention as  the most epic combat of the round). Pretty much the brief was thus. Scaedugengan had to get three wounds out of his 6+ attacks (red fury) or crone would murder him without a second thought and endanger the entire army. I rolled. all 6 hit and then all 6 wounded... I could do it! but then the gods of fate, who had deserted Charlie all game, laughed in my face as he made 5 5+ ward saves! i had ignored one of his two cauldrons as it was turn 5 and needed to kill Crones unit. needless to say she turned him into offal. luckily the whole army survived the magical backlash and went on to kill all but crone and a unit of 10 Witches. 15-5 to me and both of our votes for best game of the weekend.

5: Ryan Lister; Warriors of Chaos (battleline)

Noooo! I was so close to the perfect pentagonal lineup this tournament! oh well. I had no high hopes going into this game, as Ryan's Warriors have run rampant in Scaedugengan's forces once before. packing the Slaanesh Daemon Prince (hisss), Unkillable disc BSB, a fire Sorcerer, 18 Warriors, 2 chariots, lots of dogs, a Chimera, 3 Dragon Ogres and 3 Skull Crushers. i bunkered my characters within a building and left the skeletons to bait the majority of his army in while i turned his flank. nothing went overly well this game except for the Black Coach once more severally stalling his Daemon Prince for 3 rounds (even with the warrior block backing them) and the disc BSB going into the flank of my Hexwraithes (currently mowing down Dragon Ogres at the time), failing to would them, then breaking and dying without a single wound being delt to him. however the combo of the other trickster shard and an irresistible Choir saw all chances of the Vampire surviving fade. 18-2 to Ryan

in the end i ended with 37 battle points and  22/25 painting points, much more than i thought i would get. in the end i came 20th, so at least i didn't add another wooden spoon to the collection.