This is the fifth and final part of my report of the recent Old World tournament, Snake Eyes. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.
Game 5 - Aus Team
Travis Cramb - Grand Cathay
Upon the Field of Glory
- Shugengan Lord (General, Level 4 Illusion) with Lore of Yang, Heavy Armour, The Monkey King's Wisdom, Learned Feng Shi Bo, Potion of Speed
- Supreme Astromancer (Level 3, Elementalism) with Lore of Yin, Cloak of Po Mei, Ruby Ring of Ruin
- 20 Jade Warriors with Shields, Stubborn, Jade Officer, Standard Bearer, The Jade Banner
- 20 Jade Warriors with Shields, Stubborn, Jade Officer, Standard Bearer, War Banner
- 12 Peasant Levy with Warbows, Skirmishers, Ambushers
- 12 Peasant Levy with Warbows, Skirmishers, Ambushers
- Cathayan Grand Cannon with Ogre Loader
- Cathayan Grand Cannon with Ogre Loader
- 4 Crane Gunner Team with Ambushers, Reserve Move
- 5 Iron Hail Gunners
- 6 Jade Lancer with Ambushers, Stubborn, Jade Lancer Officer, Ring of Jet
- Sky Lantern with Iron Hail Guns and Dragon Fire Bombs
So we had made it to the final round, and found ourselves against a team of guys who are part of the team representing Australia at the ETC this year.
I missed taking a photo of my deployment, so you'll just have to imagine how brilliant it was. I did shield the Treeman behind cover so the Grand Cannons couldn't just pick him off before I moved, but then I got the first turn and I decided that I couldn't hide forever if I wanted to reach the enemy (because Wood Elves are a bloodthirsty race who love close combat more than anything), so I took the other approach of simply exposing myself to everyone and hoping for the best.
At the same time, my Glade Lord took off on a mission toward the Shugengan, who clearly wanted none of it. Being a lunatic Wood Elf player, I even marched my Glade Guard forward in the hope of bringing some worthwhile targets into range.
The Scouts did manage to knock a wound off the Shugengan, which was of course silly because I was going to kill him with a single blow from my Lord.
One single blow, baby...
Maybe I broadcast my intentions a little bit, because the Shugengan slunk backwards and the suspiciously tall Supreme Astromancer stepped out and tried to kill me with his fireball ring. He was also just out of range of my Spellweaver's dispel bubble, which took some doing. The Lord took a wound from the ring, which was unsporting but OK.
The Sky Lantern flew up and hosed my Warhawks with their bonkers machines guns, but that was OK because at least they didn't shoot someone important...
My Wild Riders were faring less well, being targeted by Peasants with bows and others with Crane Guns. Travis had rightly surmised that there was a danger that at full strength, the unit might have been able to go straight through the front of the Jade Warriors. Now they were a sad remnant.
Speaking of sad things... The Ruby Ring had knocked a wound off my Glade Lord, but it was one of the Cannons turning to fire upon him that spelled his downfall. I think it took the second shot from the Ogre Loader (or maybe he rerolled a misfire). Either way, it did 3 wounds - meaning the wound from the Ruby Ring had done just enough to ensure that he perished. Boo!
Filled with righteous vengeance after the fall of my general, my troops on the left engaged (the Treeman had shrugged off the efforts of the other Cannon). The Sisters of the Thorn and surviving Warhawk riders charged the skirmishing Peasants, intent of carrying through into the Cannon. The Treeman wasn't fast enough to participate, but advanced at best speed.
I deliberately failed the charge with the Wild Riders - they were within range of the Jade Warriors, but 2 Wild Riders does not a frontal charge make, so I declined to use Swiftstride and barely dribbled out of the forest. My efforts to save them were for little, however. Shooting took the remainder off in the next turn. My Spellweaver remained behind the forest, but now that the Sky Lantern had come to visit, she threw a Fury of Athel Loren at the thing and had it failed all 4 6+ saves, it would have died outright! As it was Travis managed to pass 2, so only took 4 wounds.
My charge was (unsurprisingly) enough to break the Peasants, and the Warhawk ran them down. The Sisters hit the Cannon, as planned. Unfortunately, the Jade Warriors had shifted (perhaps in anticipation of this) and could now see my flank.
A blimp's eye view down the field. My Glade Guard had fired a volley at the unengaged Cannon that turn, but somehow only managed a single wound (with a whole lot of hits).
Yes yes, we knew this could happen. But we have a plan, OK?
So maybe the plan wasn't perfect. Despite making use of Hammerhand, we somehow left the Ogre on a single wound, and the crew also on a single wound. It really should have been enough to kill it with our attacks. Anyway, we only lost one of our number, but it was enough to shoo us away. The Treeman took 2 wounds (I think from the second Cannon).
Apparently sending a nasty magic missile that nearly knocks you out of the sky is some sort of declaration of war in Grand Cathay, because the Sky Lantern headed straight for my Spellweaver and nearly killed her with a volley from their machine guns. Or maybe it was their grenades. Whatever it was, it hurt and left her on one wound, despite Swirling Mists being in play (I want my money back - it guaranteed protection on the packet).
Without the threat of the Glade Lord, the Shugengan was now venturing out from his hiding place up the back. The Jade Lancers arrived from ambush, and we turned to face them, knocking only a couple of Lancers off with our shooting. My Spellweaver was however, doing a good job of shutting down the Shugengan's spells.
The Sky Lantern wasn't the only one trying to kill my Spellweaver. The second unit of Peasants had also arrived from Ambush, so intent on her demise that they were willing to risk the Dryads to do it. They failed, which definitely pleased Travis - he was already very sick of her. Oh, and she killed the Sky Lantern with another magic missile. This was so easy. Having missed their shots, the Peasants then died very convincingly to the Dryads.
This area was a mess. The Treeman declared a charge on the Jade Warriors, and they promptly failed their terror test and fled through the Cannons and off the field. This then left the Cannon to my attentions, and I think it might have panicked too - running from the field with the Warhawk in pursuit.
Travis' remaining shooting was rearranging itself to look along the line as the Sisters managed to deal with the second Cannon, and the Treeman resumed his advance.
My Spellweaver was now back looking over this side, helping make life difficult for the Shugengan.
This one was a bit rough for my opponent. The Shugengan charged the Glade Guard, and so did the Jade Lancers. Only the Glade Guard stood and shot at the Lancers, and wiped them from the field. So they racked up 4 wounds for the combat, and also ensured there was nobody to accept my champion's challenge...
Thanks to impact hits, we still lost 5 models. But there was no way we were going to lose the combat. The Shugengan broke and fled. We chased, rather than simply letting him go (I already explained about bloodthirsty Wood Elves). But when we didn't catch him, we did the boring thing and shot him in the butt. Then he failed to rally (which was obviously pretty unlucky), so we shot him in the butt again, and he perished. Note in this picture I had rushed the mage up to try to get a shot in, which meant I had left the forest and lost my dispel bonuses. This was silly, loose play. Probably deserved to be punished for that one, especially knowing how badly Travis wanted her dead. The Astromancer did have a crack at her with his spells and ring, but couldn't get one through.
I am running out of pictures. The Treeman ended up charging and killing the Crane Gunners. The remaining Sisters and the lone surviving Warhawk went into hiding behind the hill.
In the end Travis still had the Astromancer and his Iron Hail Gunner friends, as well as one of the Jade Warrior units (which had basically never moved). I still had the tattered remnants of the Sisters, Warhawks, Spellweaver and Treeman, as well as my Scouts, Dryads and Glade Guard. A few key rolls had won it for me.
Result: 14:6 Win
Elsewhere, the results were mixed. Nick's Beastmen beat Mitchell's Beastmen 17-3, but Pete's Chaos went down 0-20 very quickly against Jamie's Bretonnian Exiles, and Ben lost the Vampire-off with Akhter 4-16. So overall we went down 35-45 in the match.
In the final standings, we took a bit of a hit in our overall presentation and finished mid-field. All of which was fine. There are already mutterings about lifting our efforts for next year, so we shall see.
In terms of my army, I never did get to pull the trigger on my Durthu's Wrath plan - I barely even managed to get the spell during the event. The silly Glade Lord had worked out OK, although the Wild Riders had been a bit of a bust. They had never even won a round of combat. Most of the rest of the army had its moments, although the Warhawks might struggle to get another run. Let's not kid ourselves, I have learnt nothing. Expect to see similar mistakes in future. 'Til then!
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