Convic 2019 Aftermath - Part 1

So after more or less being in a state of hobby hibernation since Cancon, over the weekend I awoke from my slumber to attend Convic. Convic is one of the few 2-day tournaments left on the calendar, and I've been attending it nearly every year since it began as a Warhammer Fantasy tournament something like 15 years ago. The local Kings of War scene seems to struggle with multi-day events at present (with the notable exception of Cancon), and thanks to a number of factors, this year only saw a dozen or so players attend. This led to a very relaxed, community-style atmosphere that was really rather nice. It meant that with 7 games to play, you were more likely to play a given person than not, which was really rather funny - almost like a round-robin.

I had a bit of trouble coming up with lists for the event. I say "lists", plural, because Convic has an unusual format of 3 different sized armies - the games grow as you go along. This year the game sizes were 1495, 1995 and 2250 points.The multiple list format was not really what troubled me - I was just struggling to work out what army I wanted to use. I was mostly trying to stay away from armies I've used in previous events, in particular Ogres (which I have used twice at previous Convics). Whilst that still left me with a few options, the most likely were Dwarfs or Kingdoms of Men.

I'm still hesitant to use Dwarfs when I haven't gotten around to painting any Brock Riders, and a few of my units are under-sized which limits my options. On the other hand, friends were a little scathing of how bland KoM are, and it's hard to justify using them when you can field much the same stuff in League of Rhordia, but with more toys. But I have used Rhordia a couple of times, and really wanted to make a KoM list that would be worth running. I toyed briefly with nonsense like massed infantry flooding the field, but in the end the thing that caught my attention was the Beast of War. It had very solid stats, could add some moderate shooting in the form of a ballista on its back, and was something Rhordia didn't have access to. I decided to field plenty of Beasts of War, and went from there.

These were my lists:

1495

• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Regiment
• Pole-Arms Block Regiment
• Arquebusier Horde with Jar of the Four Winds
• General on Winged Beast with Blade of Slashing
• Wizard on Horse with Lightning Bolt, Bane-Chant and the Inspiring Talisman
• Beast of War with light ballista
• Giant

1995

• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Regiment
• Pole-Arms Block Regiment
• General on Winged Beast
• General on Winged Beast
• Wizard on Horse with Lightning Bolt, Bane-Chant and the Inspiring Talisman
• Beast of War with light ballista
• Beast of War with light ballista
• Giant
• Giant

2250

• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Horde
• Pole-Arms Block Regiment
• Pole-Arms Block Regiment
• General on Winged Beast with Blade of Slashing
• General on Winged Beast with Diadem of Dragon-Kind
• Wizard on Horse with Lightning Bolt, Bane-Chant and the Inspiring Talisman
• Beast of War with light ballista
• Beast of War with light ballista
• Beast of War with light ballista
• Giant
• Giant

No, the lists are not very imaginative. And it's slightly bizarre having more effective shooting in my 1495 list than the 2250 one. As soon as I was putting the Arquebusiers back into the box, I was wondering if I had done the right thing. Ah well, at least I had monsters!

I took plenty of photos during the event, although the first 3 games were a big of a juggling act given I was also using my phone as a chess timer. Hopefully the pictures will help tell the story.

Game 1: Invade (1495pts)

Tim Stewart - Orcs

• Ax Horde
• Ax Horde
• Morax Regiment
• Gore Rider Regiment
• Krudger on Ancient Winged Slasher
• Godspeaker on Gore with Bane-Chant, Inspiring Talisman
• Giant
• War Drum

Tim and I arranged a grudge match at the very last minute, because he hasn't played many games of KoW. He was still feeling a little shaky on the rules and was concerned he would instinctively revert to things like Warhammer movement. We decided playing the first game against someone who could watch for it and remind him might be helpful. As it happened, it really didn't come up. He seemed to have his head around things pretty well.

The tables were smaller for the smaller games (4 feet wide at 1495, 5 feet at 1995 and the full 6 feet for 2250). This meant even at the smaller size, the field looked pretty full.

The Giant and Winged Slasher did their best to skulk behind the tower. Probably sensible, given I had the Arquebusier horde with huge range.

I didn't really have much of a plan during deployment. I figured the Arquebusiers could sit in the difficult terrain, and I spread my Inspiring as effectively as I could.

I got the first turn and pushed up fairly aggressively on the right the pond was in a convenient location to help me try to dictate terms. A hindered charge from the Gore Riders didn't seem overly worrying.

Given I had a fair amount of firepower on the left, I was a bit slower on the advance. I was worried what that Winged Slasher was going to do. My shooting did cosmetic damage to the Morax. There's a Giant advancing through the trees. You could be excused for not noticing him (I didn't at first glance)...

It would appear I didn't take a photo of Tim's movement, but he made a point of staying out of range of my infantry on the right, whilst pressing up on the other side in front of the tower (still out of my infantry's charge range). In my second turn I decided to press in a bit more on the right and effectively dangle out a regiment as bait.

Having done a little damage with shooting, and with the arcs on the Ax hordes meaning there would be no punishing flank charges if it all went wrong, I sent the Giant and birdie into the Morax. Even with the War Drum nearby, I figured I had a decent chance. But I didn't factor in my rolling. I didn't waver them. Not even really close. That's OK, I just tried not to think about what they could do to a Winged Beast in return...

The Ancient Winged Slasher went all stealthy after moving past the tower, presumably hoping it would prevent me from shooting at it. Or you know, maybe Tim wanted the base in the right place or something silly like that. Anyway, I did shoot at it anyway for minor damage.

This was predictable, unavoidable, and undesirable. I had set the Beast of War up for a counter-charge if it all went wrong for Tim, but I was not confident the Pole-arms would still be there.

On my right, Tim decided he had to bite the bullet and engaged. The Gore Riders went past the bait regiment, figuring the horde had it under control.

 Bit of a mess really.

I had hoped to avoid proper combat units having a go at my birdie so early on, but it was his own fault really. Could also have done without bane-chant getting involved. Thanks Godspeaker.

So. Apparently I am a tactical genius and I had the Morax right where I wanted them. Look how brilliantly I outplayed Tim by giving him a fantastic charge, taking 12 wounds and then graciously allowing him to roll a double 1 when he only needed a 4 to be rid of me (or a 2 to waver).

Much like my first strike effort, Tim's charge on my flank bounced rather disappointingly. 

In fact it was an all-round disappointing performance by the green lads. None of my units even wavered. The hindered charge slowed down the Ax horde just enough for the regiment to wear the charge (although they were lucky not to waver) The Gore Riders were always going to struggle. They at least did OK, all things considered.

Well, I had set up for this, but without any real confidence that I'd get the chance. My Beast of War happily rolled into the flank, grateful that Strider would ensure its efforts would not be hampered by the terrain.

With nobody wavering, I was free to counter-charge all over the place. 2 regiments into the Ax, the horde into the Gore Riders.

I had done so little damage on the first effort that I needed to send both the Giant and birdie in again to ensure I finished the job on the Morax.

 The horde was too much for the Gore Riders, but the Ax horde was made of sterner stuff.

 Success! First try (checks around to ensure nobody witnessed the details)...

Speaking of success, a counter-charge from the Pole-arms and flank from the Beast proved too much for the Ancient Winged Slasher. The horde backed off to make room for the Beast to spin to face the oncoming Ax horde (which would have been great fun in the flank, even hindered).

On to Tim's turn. Guess what happened here? How could a regiment possibly still be there on 18 damage? Poor Tim. Poor Ax horde. Poor laws of probability... 

I dodged a bullet when the Godspeaker decided it was more important to bane-chant the Ax horde fighting my Beast of War than it was to use Fireball to turn the birdie into KFC. The War Drum did make a point of blocking the Giant's potential charge, however. 

On my left, the Giant had a second crack at the Pole-arms, whilst the Ax found it hard going against the Beast of War. My lines were holding together very well. Probably better than they should have really. 

So when you don't have any targets, what do you do with your Arquebusier horde? Charge it through difficult terrain, of course. Who needs anything better than 6s to hit!? The Beast of War had a lot of work to do with that horde and needed whatever help he could get. The Pole-arms went into the Giant, but given he was fresh this felt like a final act of defiance before they were surely doomed the following turn.

The birdie decided to punish the Godspeaker for his lack of respect by charging him, whilst the Giant accepted the invitation to charge the War Drum.

Having been properly punished by the dice gods, Tim's horde on my right was now fighting 3 units of pole-arms at once. At least my horde was hindered thanks to the pond we were all splashing about in.

Because I also am great at dice, in Tim's turn the Ax horde was still there, still fighting, and still capable of a counter-charge on my own horde. 

12 wounds. That's all I was up to. Oh well, I guess they were hindered charges hey. Well, some of them were.

Heroic though the Arquebusier charge was, it did little to upset the Ax horde. The Beast of War was working on them, though.

The Giant handled the War Drum but unsurprisingly, the birdie was unable to deal with the Godspeaker in a single turn. At least he was disordered and couldn't just turn around and Fireball me. I was safe for another turn. Wasn't I? 

What nonsense is this? I charge the Godspeaker to stop him casting spells, and all I do is make him angry and get charged in return? What do you mean he did a wound? Idiot birdie, what have you done!?!

On my left flank, things were finally starting to look up for Tim. The Giant took down the Pole-arm horde on the 3rd attempt, and the Ax were able to deal with the Beast of War on their second try, now they were counter-charging and no longer hindered by the wall they were dancing on. They then reformed facing away from my Arquebusiers, more concerned by the prospect of my Giant coming into their rear. Probably sensible, but so... disrespectful! 

My right flank was suffering a bit too. I no longer had a birdie, and my Pole-arm horde succumbed to the counter-charge from the Ax horde. Now I would be stuck with nothing but hindered charges, and one of my units was already on life support...

The Ax horde had only taken 8 wounds, so I still had work to do on them. Unfortunately the Arquebusiers were hindered again, but at least this time they had 60 attacks.

Come on lads, you can do it. You've had plenty of practice! 

Nope. No, they couldn't do it. The horde counter-charged the fresh unit and minced it, whilst the Godspeaker poked the walking wounded with a Fireball and sent them on their way. I no longer had a right flank; nothing to prevent the horde from advancing into my half of the field (which was after all the objective).

I didn't get the Ax horde, but they didn't get me either. After another attempt a turn later, I had dealt with them. The Godspeaker had one final crack at wounding one of my units with a Fireball, and then my own Wizard cleaned him up with a Lightning Bolt.

The final moments saw a scramble as my remaining scoring units lunged over the middle line on my left, whilst Tim's victorious Ax horde did the same on my right. Ultimately the Giant was the difference.

With the Blackjack system being used, I had done just enough damage to push the basic 14-7 win up to a 15-6. The whole game had been close, with a couple of swings making it hard to predict. I can't believe my glorious birdie ended up roadkill to a shaman on a pig...

Result: Win 

Tournament Points: 15-6

A good start, if a little lucky. On to glory!