Cancon 2015 Report - Part 4

This is a continuation of my Cancon report. You can find the previous game here.

Game 4 - Battle Line
Karl Anderson, Orcs and Goblins

• Orc Great Shaman (Level 3) with Earthing Rod, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Talisman of Preservation
• Orc Shaman (Level 1) with Feedback Scroll
• Night Goblin Big Boss BSB with great weapon, Talisman of Endurance
• Night Goblin Big Boss with great weapon, Obsidian Lodestone
• Night Goblin Big Boss with great weapon, Dragonbane Gem
• 40 Night Goblins with shields, spears, full command, Netters 2 Fanatics
• 18 Savage Orc Big 'Uns with additional hand weapons, full command
• 5 Goblin Wolf Riders with spears, shields, musician
• 5 Goblin Wolf Riders with spears, shields, musician
• 18 Black Orcs with shields, full command, Standard of Discipline
• 1 Goblin Wolf Chariot
• 1 Goblin Wolf Chariot
• Orc Boar Chariot
• Orc Boar Chariot
• 2 Snotlings
• 2 Snotlings
• Goblin Rock Lobber
• Snotling Pump Wagon with Spiky Roller, Giant Explodin' Spores
• Snotling Pump Wagon with Spiky Roller, Giant Explodin' Spores
• Doom Diver Catapult
• Doom Diver Catapult
• Mangler Squig
• Mangler Squig

Swedish Comp: 15

I had come out of day 1 with only a single win, so I was hoping to improve on that. I generally like to at least “break even” no matter what list I’m messing about with and this was by no means the worst I’ve had…

Karl had a traditional orc gun line (when did gun lines become the standard way to play orcs? The world has gone mad). It was a bit of a concern for my keeper, especially when backed up by Foot of Gork. On the bright side, there was not a whole ton of combat staying power, so I might be OK if I could weather the storm.

Deployment, after some wolf riders used vanguard to move up on my flank.

The centre of the orc line. The great shaman is in the black orcs to prevent animosity. The little shaman is in the savage orcs up the back.

There was a boar chariot and a pump wagon on my right flank. Pretty sure I got rid of the pump wagon, but not sure how. I think the mounted daemonettes killed it and got off the table edge before playing avoidance for the rest of the game.

We played with the big skull temple as just a hill. Otherwise the terrain would have been a nightmare.

This game was rather funny in places, although my memory of the details is fading a bit. I started by moving forward across the line, then rolling a double 1 for the magic phase and having to take instability tests for my whole army, with a few units losing models. Then I copped a bit of a hiding from Foot of Gork and Karl’s artillery, although thankfully he was more interested in stomping on my ranked up units than the single models like the keeper.

The soul grinder shot at a mangler in the first turn, but let me down again.

Me moving up. Note that the fiends have taken 4 wounds. That would be my doing, thanks to reign of chaos.

Foot of Gork depletes my units a bit.

More Foot of Gork, I think.

Despite not making a really concerted effort to bring the greater daemon down, Karl still killed it in relatively short order. I took a couple of wounds from the Feedback Scroll, and he made it hard for me to try to slingshot into a proper combat with how he placed a chariot out front. I decided to kill that anyway and hurry as much as possible. I nearly got away with it, too - after rolling double 1 for the first magic phase, I rolled double 6 for the second, and a pack of daemonettes appeared next to his war machines. The he misfired and blew one of the doom divers up. It was all starting to look rather promising when the remaining doom diver scattered a mile off target, but then the stone thrower proved more accurate and finished the keeper off. Bummer.

The keeper rushed as far as possible after killing a chariot. Not far enough.

My fiends managed to slingshot through a boar chariot and into the savage orcs. A good idea, but a couple of fanatics managed to get in the way and leave me with a much smaller unit. Still, the fiends somehow assassinated the shaman lurking in that unit before being overwhelmed.

The fiends might have done ok in this combat if they hadn't been hammered by reign of chaos, Foot of Gork and a fanatic. They still killed the shaman. Good effort, really.

The great shaman was in a decent-sized unit of black orcs until he got carried away with one of his spells and blasted a whole heap of his own bodyguards to a crisp. This opened the way for my daemonettes, who had themselves been savaged by Foot of Gork. Because the black orcs were suddenly far fewer in number, the daemonettes managed to smash through and remove the unit, including the great shaman.

The daemonettes go through the black orcs and into the remaining doom diver, whilst the bonus unit of daemonettes meet them there (the bonus unit was made up from casualties from the first unit, since I hadn't thought to bring anything else with me. Good thing Karl had killed so many of them). Those beasts of Nurgle shamed themselves in short order.

A group of wolf riders had managed to mop up my horrors (I think Foot of Gork had maimed them too), and spent the rest of the game dancing around my mounted daemonettes whilst a boar chariot did its best to look menacing. It meant that within a few turns, neither side had a wizard. After one of the doom divers blew up and my daemonettes dealt with the others, there was really no shooting to speak of either. Helps speed the game up a bit.

Wading through after stepping on a mangler squig (risky but worth it). Next the chariot would feed itself into the grinder.

The soul grinder was rather heroic in this game. It waddled forward, stomping on chariots, pump wagons, wolf riders and even one of the mangler squigs (the other one killed itself with triple 1. Did you even know they could do that?) before engaging the big unit of night goblins including the enemy BSB. That unit really took some moving. My main daemonette unit came around after mopping up the artillery and hit them in the rear, and I had to kill most of the unit including the BSB before they would finally see fit to fail a break test. The bonus daemonette unit gave their lives to the savage orcs to buy me time to finish that particular job.

Starting to make actual progress.

The soul grinder eventually cut down the BSB, and ensured I kept winning combat thanks to its thunderstomps and high toughness.

Oh, and the beasts of Nurgle and bloodletters were a bitter disappointment all game. They messed up charge after charge, then the beasts embarrassed themselves against the night goblins before the soul grinder could get there, and the bloodletters had to console themselves with killing a night goblin big boss who saw fit to come so close that I couldn’t fail the charge roll. These two units had done their best to mess up whatever plans I came up with in the centre (like forcing the fanatics out on my terms instead of Karl’s). If it hadn’t been for the miscasting great shaman maiming his own unit and opening the door for the daemonettes, I think I would have lost the game.

Sure, we could get involved. Or we could fart about up here, failing to contribute when we are most needed...

The mounted daemonettes dance around in the hope of having a go at the wolf riders without the chariot getting involved. They never did.

The bonus daemonettes giving their unnatural lives whilst the night goblins are finally dealt with. The bloodletters saw off that chariot, but it got away to ensure their failure was complete.

Result: 14-6 (after comp)

Game 5 - Blood and Glory
Matt Willis, Dark Elves

• Helebron
• Supreme Sorceress (Level 4, Lore of Metal) with Ring of Hotek
• Sorceress (Level 1, Lore of Fire) with Siverjir's Hex Scroll
• Death Hag BSB on Cauldron of Blood with Rune of Khaine, Obsidian Blade
• 10 Darkshards
• 6 Dark Riders with Musician, Standard, Shields, Repeater Crossbows
• 6 Dark Riders with Musician, Standard, Shields, Repeater Crossbows
• 23 Witch Elves with Full Command
• 5 Harpies
• 5 Shades with Blood Shade
• 18 Executioners with Full Command, Razor Standard
• Reaper Bolt Thrower
• Reaper Bolt Thrower

Swedish Comp: 13.3

This game was a complete non-event. I couldn't engage because of Helebron and he showed no interest in engaging me. I couldn't really use magic because of the Hex Scroll and the Ring of Hotek, and I was being comprehensively out-shot. I lost the horrors, who killed a unit of dark riders with Infernal Gateway before they went, and I would have won 11-9 after comp until the keeper died to an irresistible final transmutation in the final turn. Due to the scenario, that cost me 1000 VPs and I lost convincingly.

Result: 6-14