Axemaster 2023 Aftermath - Part 1

Well, I have survived another 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament. We decided to resurrect our local tournament Axemaster after maybe a 7 year gap, running it using 6th edition because that seems to be where most of the enthusiasm is at present. I've posted my slightly dubious list previously, but here it is again for reference:

• Tyrant with Heavy Armour, Luck Gnoblar, Tenderiser, Wyrdstone Necklace
• Bruiser with Battle Standard, Heavy Armour, Luck Gnoblar, Sword of Might, Talisman of Protection
• Butcher with 2 Dispel Scrolls
• 6 Ogre Bulls with Light Armour, Iron Fists, Standard Bearer, Crusher
• 3 Ironguts with Standard Bearer, Look-Out Gnoblar, Great Weapons, Heavy Armour
• 3 Ironguts with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour
• 2 Leadbelchers with Light Armour
• 20 Ricco's Republican Guard (Regiment of Renown)
• 10 Braganza's Besiegers (Regiment of Renown)
• 6 Voland's Venators (Regiment of Renown)
• 1 Bull Rhinox Rider with Heavy Armour, Iron Fist

I was focusing on it more as an opportunity to use stuff like Dogs of War, and trying not to think too hard about how my games would likely go... Well, now we can find out how big a mistake that was.

Game 1 - Seize Ground
Matt Grigg - Nurgle Daemonic Legion

• Great Unclean One
• 17 Plaguebearers with Command
• 16 Plaguebearers with Command
• 16 Plaguebearers with Command
• 1 Nurgling
• 1 Nurgling
• 1 Nurgling
• 3 Plagueriders
• 3 Plagueriders
• Chariot of Nurgle

Ah, this takes me back... I have a distinct recollection of my poor Orcs having to fight 4 different Nurgle daemon players at an Axemaster back in the day... I think I only won one of those games. These armies were everywhere. And now here I was a again, with a sub-par list and a Great Unclean One to deal with... Everything old is new again!

Anyway, after a brief period of mourning for what was likely to happen to my army, I considered my options for defeating the greater daemon, and came to the conclusion that I really only had one (rather unlikely) way of getting rid of him - the Tyrant with the Tenderiser would have to deal with him, courtesy of some good rolling (I only hit him on 5+). Nothing else hit hard enough to really threaten him, and I didn't have the units to bog him down and wait for him to fluff his rolls to beat him with combat resolution. Well, at least there would be no confusion about which plan to follow...

All deployed. The Leadbelchers are out of shot, on the other side of the building. For this scenario, table quarters were worth 200VP and captured standards (except the BSB) were worth nothing.

They looked quite nice as far as yucky daemons go

The Besiegers look quite good stretched out in a single line. Actually makes the command models without shields look a bit odd though.

BSB in the Ironguts in the centre, Tyrant and Butcher in the larger Bull unit.

I deployed the Venators and Leadbelchers out on the flanks, hoping to work my way around a little. Unfortunately Matt had enough deployments to respond to the cavalry with a unit of Plagueriders, so that plan was pretty much a bust. I did have more movement to work with for both the Rhinox and Venators, however... Maybe I could ensure I got a good charge and dealt with them that way. Maybe.

Being exceedingly skillful, I won the roll-off for first turn and moved toward the enemy with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Most of the Ogres stepped up a bit, in particular the forces on the flanks. My shooting and magic had little effect.

Closing the gap a little. No point in rushing - they'd be coming to me anyway.

The right flank was the one place where I had a clear charge range advantage

Matt advanced fairly cautiously, not wanting to set me up with an easy charge anywhere. The Great Unclean One knocked a couple of wounds off my BSB's Irongut unit, and the Nurglings all made a point of stepping forward to invite careless aggression on my part. Well, "careless aggression" happens to be my middle name...

Things are cagey on my right, except the bold Nurglings rushing forward for hugs.

At least Nurgle daemons are not especially quick. If only I had some meaningful shooting to punish them for that...

Nurglings step out of the trees to leer at my Leadbelchers.

You dare pull faces like that at me? Come here!

Turns out Nurglings pulling faces are an irresistible charge target.

The Leadbelchers immediately charged the Nurglings on the edge of the forest, and the Rhinox ignored my stern instruction to stay put, charging the Nurglings in front of it. I guess that's what you get for fielding bad-tempered, ill-disciplined brutes in your army... Unfortunately he was also an inept brute, and barely beat the Nurglings in combat. Certainly not enough that they seemed to care. The Leadbelchers did a better job, bludgeoning through their Nurglings in surprisingly quick order.

Job done! If only the Rhinox had been so efficient.

The Plagueriders on my right inevitably charged in alongside the Nurglings to attack the inept Rhinox. The saving grace was that only a single Plaguerider would be able to reach in combat. Matt considered committing the Plaguebearers in the other side, but eventually decided against it. They settled for lurking menacingly whilst the remaining free base of Nurglings capered provocatively in front of Ricco's Republican Guard.

The Plagueriders move to assist their Nurgling bait... err, I mean allies.

OK, they're getting a bit close now.

Kind of feels like the Plagueriders are mocking the Ironguts at this point.

The rest of the army pressed forward more aggressively now, however the Plaguebearers on my left flank were slowed by the proximity of the Leadbelchers.

The Rhinox shrugged off the attacks from its assailants and did at least choose this moment to do some wounds. That was good, because its ability to pass break tests is really not all that great.

The moment of decision.

Now I was presented with a turn of decisions. The enemy was now within reach, and if he was willing to leave his regiment, the Tyrant could get to the Great Unclean One. Or he could go for the Chariot - a far better bet, and it would put him out of harm's way. The Chariot was the sensible, conservative choice. Naturally I went the other way. I sent the BSB off to try to deal with the Chariot, and the Tyrant into the flank of the Great Unclean One. The Ogre Bulls ensured that if the Plaguebearers came for them and failed to break them, they'd get flanked by the Ironguts the BSB left behind.

Probably not the "right" play, but the other option was boring and lame. Go for glory!

Any support the Tyrant would have received in terms of a banner and unit strength would have been short-lived thanks to exposing us to counter-charges. This way at least there would be none.

This is not our most favouritest charge target ever...

Here come the cavalry! To the rescue!

The other Ironguts sighed and charged the Plagueriders right in front of them - too close for a gut charge, which was likely the only way they might have lucked out and actually won the combat. The Besiegers fired on the Plaguebearers, aided by the Leadbelchers who turned and worked their way out of the edge of the forest. On the other flank, the Venators bravely charged into the other Plagueriders in an effort to save the Rhinox. This didn't go very well - I don't think they landed a wound thanks to the combination of dice and the clouds of flies they had to swing through. One of the horses did contribute a wound, but it was nowhere near enough. The Plagueriders retaliated with a barrage of wounds, but happily the Venators were better at armour saves than they were at killing things, and they mostly shrugged them off. We won the combat marginally, with the Nurglings still there despite the "best efforts" (so they tell me) of the Rhinox.

On the other flank, the Irongut charge on the other Plagueriders went shockingly well. We actually managed to land multiple wounds and kill one of the Plagueriders thanks to a wound suffered earlier from the Besiegers. Of course, the loss of one Plaguerider should not have been enough to save me. They struck back and landed 5 wounds, when low and behold I passed 3 of the 5 6+ armour saves! This was a shocking development that meant the Ironguts not only held their ground, but won combat and crumbled another Plaguerider! Honestly the whole thing was beyond surprising. Those Ironguts were immediately promised promotions (by both me and onlookers), especially in light of what happened elsewhere...

What a great saving throw! What talent! What on earth is going on!?

Yeah cop that, yucky toads!

The BSB arrived into the front of the Chariot. Despite my best efforts to cast Bullguts to get him over the magical Strength 7 threshold, he remained Strength 6 with his Sword of Might. That was OK, I had a banner, it might be enough... I landed no wounds (I think I rolled 2 1s to wound, which would have really broken me had I actually managed to get him to Strength 7). Happily the Chariot was also peopled by idiots, and did no wounds back. Their unit strength and my banner meant the combat was a draw.

Then came the main event, with epic music playing and great anticipation. The Tyrant hefted his mighty Tenderiser, raised it above his head and then basically just dropped it on his own toe. He didn't even make the Great Unclean One take a save. In return he took a couple of wounds, lost combat, and broke automatically because he was outnumbered by a terror-causing monstrosity. Well really, there were the same number of them, but they were fatter. And in terms of capable fighters, my Tyrant was apparently outnumbered 1:0.

The Tyrant fled a good distance, but the Great Unclean One giggled disgustingly and rolled a 12 to ensure there would be no escape. This proved too much for the BSB, who abandoned his underwhelming efforts to hurt the chariot and fled as well.

Well that was a debacle. I guess at least the BSB got away...

My great gamble had certainly not paid off. The Tyrant was dead, the BSB was fleeing, and my troops were now within range of all of Matt's good stuff in the centre of the field. Everything declared a charge on the Bulls, who decided that they were actually a good chance to escape if they fled. All the slower stuff was in the way of the Chariot. So we turned, fled, and got caught by the Great Unclean One after a disappointing flee roll. This was too exciting for the nearby unengaged Ironguts, who turned and fled the other way.

Well this is really going swimmingly, isn't it? Now I had no Butcher either...

On my left, the slightly depleted Plaguebearers charged in to try to free the remaining Plaguerider from the Ironguts. 2 ranks, a standard, outnumbered... I suppose this seemed a sensible plan.

Well lads, we had a good run, but the party is over.

Rather shockingly however, this again didn't turn out as expected. The Plaguerider continued to flap around uselessly, and only a couple of Plaguebearers could reach... The Ironguts emerged unscathed thanks to another 6+ save! They killed the remaining Plaguerider, and set to work on the Plaguebearer regiment.

I don't even understand what's happening in this combat now. My Ogres have never fought like this before. The cowardly BSB (still fleeing in this picture) is more my speed...

On the other flank, the struggle between the Plagueriders, Rhinox and Venators continued. The Nurglings had finally collapsed after repeated headbutts from the Rhinox. I couldn't really hurt the Plagueriders, but was rolling solidly for armour saves, and it was helping us ground through the combat.

Too dangerous to be left alive, but too horrible to die... I think the plan here is to wait for them to die of boredom or maybe old age...

Well, I really don't have a centre anymore.

At this point the flanks were going reasonably well, but the middle of the field was a complete write-off. The plan of promoting my Ironguts to lead the army was still on, as they were now the heroes of the show.

The Leadbelchers decided reloading was boring, and instead joined the Ironguts in celebrating their unexpected successes.

The Republican Guard refused to be baited into charging the Nurglings, knowing that their pikes would serve them perfectly well when they received the charge instead. The Rhinox and his friends continued to grind away at the Plagueriders, with only one remaining at this point. The Ironguts rallied after their brief momentary lapse the turn before.

In Matt's turn the Plaguebearers finally reached my pikemen and charged in alongside the Nurglings.

Yay! We get to use our pikes as they were intended!

The Great Unclean One found he had targets for his magic again, and promptly removed an Irongut to send the rest fleeing again. Bummer.

Well that comeback was short-lived...

At least on the other flank, things continued to go pretty well. One of the Ironguts finally succumbed to the Plaguebearers, but the combat was under control and the rest of the daemons crumbled due to combat resolution (I think they actually rolled an 11 and popped).

Ah man, I lost an Irongut. He will be remembered! What a hero he was. Not like that cowardly BSB, who in fact failed to rally and had continued his retreat.

The fight between the Republican Guard and the Plaguebearers and Nurglings was a little anticlimactic, with neither side doing more than a wound or two. On the bright side, that meant my regiment had held its own. On the downside, I didn't have any help on the way, whereas Matt had plenty...

Yeah... We're not going to be able to hold this position for long...

At this point I appear to have missed a couple of photos. The Rhinox and Venators finally disposed of the last Plaguerider (for the loss of one more knight) and were able to swing around and face the rest of the battle. Unfortunately they were too late. The Republican Guard continued to press back the Plaguebearers, but had no hope of breaking free. In the meantime the Chariot charged them in the flank, and they immediately failed their panic test. I thought this might be a good thing; the enemies already fighting them couldn't pursue given they were losing the combat. Unfortunately I again failed to flee far enough, and lost the unit to the charging Chariot.

Alas, poor Ricco. He and his men had been fighting bravely up until that point. Now everything was facing my reinforcements...

At this point the Ironguts had rallied and I was faced with another dilemma. Engage, or avoid? Well, it wasn't really a question was it?

I knew in my heart that the right thing to do was to preserve the remaining points I had on the table, so instead I charged everywhere. The Rhinox decided to take its chances against the Plaguebearers, who were further away and so I would get impact hits. The Venators (all 2 of them that remained) went into the flank of the Chariot. The Ironguts went into the Nurglings, planning to slingshot through them into the other units.

Now, I know you won't believe me, but this was not a bad play. I had given my guys as much of a chance as I could to clean up a whole lot of points and maybe salvage the battle. Instead, I rolled like a complete potato. I killed 1 Plaguebearer, did 0 wounds to the Chariot, the Rhinox turned and fled (and would be fleeing at the end of the battle), and the Plaguebearers pursued into the flank of the Venators.

The only thing that actually went right was the Ironguts hitting the Chariot... But now they were trapped in a combat that I was pretty much guaranteed to lose.

And lose we did. All my units broke and were destroyed at the end of the battle.

On the other side of the field things went a little better. The BSB finally rallied, and my missile troops lined up for a good final volley against the other remaining Plaguebearer unit, which had moved its way across from the centre. I didn't quite do enough damage to get it below half strength, unfortunately. That meant they were still there and contesting the table quarter, although I did at least manage to take the other (enemy side) quarter with the gloriously capable Ironguts. So I still had them, the Besiegers, the Leadbelchers, and my BSB left. Unfortunately it was not nearly enough to offset how many points of daemons were left (I'm looking at you, Great Unclean One), and Matt had the other 2 table quarters (fleeing Rhinoxen don't count).

Result: 5-15 Loss

Not a great opening result, but really I don't remember many of my games against Nurgle Daemonic Legion going much better, back in the day. At least I felt like I made the choice to feed Matt my points here - I had chances to avoid him, and heroically (stupidly) went the other way.

You can find the next part of the report here.