Convic 2016 Aftermath - Part 1

Convic was on the weekend, and whilst it was not the massive event is has been in the past, it was a lot of fun. This was my third Kings of War tournament and as usual, my preparation for it was less rather careless. I had played 2 games of KoW with Ogres before the event – one of them with the 1000 point list I would be using on the day (which was a game to teach one of my friends who was also entering the event how to play the game – so I guess my preparation was still better than some). I had only played maybe 3 games of KoW in total since Cancon back in January. Moving house and then running the Albion campaign had distracted me somewhat.

I’ve discussed it previously, but Convic required players to make 3 army lists of different sizes, because the game size grew as the event progressed. 2 games at 1000 points, 2 games at 1500 points, and then 3 games at 2000 points. My lists were:

1000 points:

• Horde of Warriors
• Regiment of Berserker Braves
• Regiment of Hunters with Brew of Haste
• Regiment of Shooters
• Captain with Blade of Slashing
• Army Standard with the Boomstick
• Warlock

1500 points:

• Horde of  Warriors
• Horde of Warriors
• Regiment of Berserker Braves
• Horde of Siege Breakers
• Horde of Shooters
• Horde of Boomers
• Captain with Blade of Slashing
• Warlock

2000 points:

• Legion of Warriors with Maccwar's Potion of the Caterpillar
• Horde of Siege Breakers with Brew of Haste
• Horde of Siege Breakers
• Horde of Shooters with Brew of Keen-eyeness
• Horde of Boomers with Heart-seeking Chant
• Regiment of Chariots with Brew of Courage
• Captain
• Grokagamok

As is my tradition, I will run through each game and try to convey what is going on in the pictures. Some details I will no doubt have already forgotten. I’m good like that. Anyway, on we go!

Game 1
1000 points, Kill!
Matt Laing, Dwarves

• Army Standard
• Organ Gun
• Flame Belcher
• Ranger Regiment
• Ironguard Regiment
• Ironguard Regiment
• Brock Rider Troop
• Brock Rider Troop

My first game was against Dwarves, which was good. At least I know what Dwarves do. I tried to set up sensibly, with the Warlock giving Inspiring to the Berserkers and getting his extra spell dice, the Hunters lurking on the other flank, and my Shooters with a reasonable line of sight.

The game is afoot! My Hunters are hiding in the trees on the right. You can't see them properly because they have artful huntery skills.

Angry badgers (with a Dwarf garnish) heading my way.

What I was facing on my left flank - Organ Gun and Rangers.

They are coming.

This is me hoping the badgers will be impatient and charge me before the rest of the army can catch up.

The Brock Riders showed they were not going to rush forward and charge my Hunters whilst they hid in the safety of the forest, so I had to settle for moving up to support my Warrior horde, where each unit could respond if the other was charged by angry badgers. 

My left flank. The Berserkers decided to try to rush the Organ Gun, whilst the Warlock and Shooters took pot shots at it. If I could get to it, or at least waver it with shooting, that flank would look OK.

Unfortunately the table was pretty choked with terrain, so good lines of sight were hard to come by.  The Shooters spent the entire game shooting at the Organ Gun, as it was a real problem. They did so firing over a wall, so needed 6+ to hit. Even when they did hit, they did a terrible job of wounding it. The Organ Gun finally wavered in turn 6 – by which time it had basically executed the Warlock and his Berserker buddies, showing it was much better at rolling 6+ to hit than I was.

The Brock Riders did indeed charge at the first opportunity, going after my Warrior horde, possibly because of the Hunters having Ensnare. They had to arrive in waves over 2 turns due to distance. The first wave did 4 damage, failed to scare my Warriors, and were pushed back.

My Army Standard Bearer fell foul of a Throwing Mastiff (a particularly ugly breed that seems to resemble a squig). It gnawed on my face pretty hard and wavered me.

The Brock Riders that had so insolently charged my Warriors were counter-charged by both the Warriors and my Captain in the flank. The damage was a bit much and they routed.

Of course, there are always more Brock Riders, right? If at first you don't succeed...

The Berserkers only got a single turn of movement in before the Organ Gun had shredded them and they routed. This left my Warlock all alone, hiding behind the cover of the wall. Unfortunately this did me little good - Matt managed to do 4 damage and waver me anyway.

In fact, there were a whole lot of wavers that turn. "W" markers everywhere. Which meant I was both lacking ranged fire-power and unable to engage with the Warriors the next turn. Not ideal.

By this point the Brock Riders had pretty well delayed me until the main line caught up. With the Warriors wavering, I lacked the units to do everything at once. I put the Captain and Hunters into the flank of the badgers to clean them up and prepared to receive a charge from the Ironguard.

The Hunters were the ones to cop the charge from the nearest Ironguard regiment. I thought this would be OK, thanks to Ensnare and Inspiring. I was wrong. The unit routed immediately. Somewhat surprisingly, Matt elected not to charge the Warriors with the second unit of Ironguard. They sat back whilst the Flame Belcher fired at them... and completely failed to hurt them. 

So I was a bit sad about the Hunters, but the Warriors still being active was a bonus. I sent them in alongside the Captain into the enemy regiment. Unfortunately I didn't do enough damage. I didn't even waver them, which was a bit of a disaster. The Army Standard went into the other regiment to slow it down and force a charge the following turn. This would have been great if I had actually managed to deal with the regiment I had hit hard. Instead they were both free to clean up.

My Warlock spent much of the game combining his fire with the Shooters to try to do something about the Organ Gun. It was a duel he would ultimately lose. Here you can see the Rangers not even bothering to help. They just walk off across the table, making dismissive gestures as they go. Fair enough, too..

After Matt's turn, I predictably had no Warriors and no Army Standard. Oh, and no Warlock. It's going well at this point.

The Captain got some measure of revenge by going into the same Ironguard regiment and breaking them all on his own! This was some consolation. Then he got walloped by the other Ironguard. Boooo!

The game ended with my Shooters trying to fend off the Rangers, who made a mockery of my cunning swamp shield because of Pathfinder. Did I rout? Honestly, I can't remember. But given the rest of the army was gone, it doesn't really matter.

All in all it was not the worst start. A couple of failures had cost me - my complete capitulation to the Organ Gun and my inability to rout (or at least waver) the first regiment of Ironguard. Matt had been unlucky with the one shot his Flame Belcher managed. Maybe it felt bad about what the other artillery piece was doing to me. Beyond that things felt pretty even. So maybe my army worked OK, even if it lost.

Result: 4-16

Game 2
1000 points, Invade!
Drew McLean, Ogres

• Warlock with Inspiring
• Warlock
• Berserker Brave Regiment
• Shooter Regiment
• Shooter Regiment
• Shieldbreaker Regiment
• Red Goblin Blaster
• Red Goblin Blaster

My second game was against Drew’s Pirate Ogres, which I had actually played a few weeks earlier with a Kingdoms of Men list I had thrown together. I lost then, but hopefully could do better this time.

These castle walls were a recurring theme on the tables. My wall was significantly larger than the one across the field from it. 

Drew found a convenient wall and started by putting both of his Shooter regiments behind it.

Goblin scientists have determined that the best way to turn a massive cannon into a Blaster is with a very large cork in the barrel.

I tried splitting my force a bit, and thankfully got the first turn. This proved particularly fortuitous when a single point of damage from a lightning bolt was enough to waver the Blaster lurking on my right flank, and just a few wounds on one of the Shooter regiments was enough to rout it with no Inspiring nearby.

Drew didn't move much for the first couple of turns. A potentially questionable tactic in a scenario where the objective is to get to the other side of the table. But then, Ogres have long legs, so can leave it late if they want. I swung around the right flank on my second turn. The Warlock finished off the Blaster with a bit more lightning, whilst the Army Standard turned his attention to the remaining Shooter regiment.

My Captain copped a bit of a tan from the 2 Warlocks in turn 1, so went and hid manfully behind the hill in turn 2. The Blaster took exception to this and started to head his way.

Honestly, the opening left me feeling like Drew's army was too defensive and static. I quickly felt like I had control of the board.

The Blaster got up as far as it could, but the Shooters routed it before it could get into a position to do any damage.

Drew's Siegebreakers and Shooters didn't think much of where my Hunters were by this point. He couldn't afford to charge either of my approaching combat units when the swamp would have hindered him. He just didn't have enough combat muscle. 

Drew's Braves made a belated advance on my left, whilst the Warlocks had another go at my Captain with their lightning when he poked his head up over the hill.

I kept advancing to try to force the combat, but the Hunter part of the plan fell apart when the Shooters targeted them, did a little damage, and wavered them. Then wavered them again.

My Captain decided he had been fried enough, so went and hid behind a hill, safe in the knowledge that he would contribute his points value for being on Drew's side of the table.

Drew's sexy Berserker ogre ladies move in on the Shooters.

Those Warlocks were annoying. The lightning damage adds up over time.

Wavery Hunters are wavered. They would never move again. Eventually a stray lightning bolt routed them completely.

My Shooters had taken one shot at the approaching Braves, but then decided that the statistics suggested they would be better off clubbing the enemy to death with their crossbows. Or maybe they just figured it would be more fun. Anyway, that is what they did.

I got sick of waiting for Drew to actually move, so sent the Warriors into the Siegebreakers of Immobility.

My Army Standard had also worked his way around to the flank of the Shooters, and this was enough to rout them with no Inspiring nearby.

My charge was hindered and the defence of Siegebreakers in the front is obviously bonkers. Still, I figured I was a chance to waver them - they were only a regiment.

Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. And even Warlocks hurt when they're in the flank. I routed on the spot. It was all a bit disappointing.

Whilst the Shooters and Braves keep slugging it out, nearly everyone else is fighting on the other side of the field. Except the Hunters, who have not yet routed.

With no worthwhile target for his lightning, my Warlock joined the charge against Drew's. He routed. Probably more to do with the Berserkers than the Warlock, if I'm honest.

I sent the Army Standard into the flank of the Siegebreakers. Why not? Lower defence, more attacks, they were already damaged...

... I'm pretty sure the Army Standard bearer did no damage whatsoever, which boded poorly for the next turn.

The Siegenbreakers counter-charge the Army Standard Bearer, who thankfully holds his ground. Then it's my turn to charge things again.

Seriously. I just can't do any damage to them. Thankfully Drew then returns the favour by hammering my guy, then rolling double 1s for the rout test...

So in the end I have squeezed all this stuff onto Drew's side of the field, but couldn't get rid of those pesky Siegebreakers. Not that this mattered from a scoring perspective.

And here was the rest of the table. With nobody on it.

Result: 18-2

So a win and a loss to start my tournament. Could be worse. Still 5 more games to go, though.

You can find part 2 of the report here.