Convic 2018 Aftermath - Part 7

This is the final part of my report of the recent Kings of War tournament at Convic 2018. You can find the previous part here.

Game 7 (2150 points) - Push
Josh Angel - The Herd (Cloven Stalkers)

• Horde of Tribal Warriors
• Horde of Spirit Walkers
• Regiment of Tribal Longhorns with Brew of Haste
• Regiment of Tribal Longhorns
• Troop of Beast Pack
• Troop of Beast Pack
• Horde of Giant Eagles
• Horde of Giant Eagles
• Horde of Tribal Chariots with Potion of the Caterpillar
• Great Chieftain with Wings of the Honeymaze
• Shaman
• Chimera with Wings
• Great Totem

There was another item or two in the list, but I don't recall what or where. It's not really that important.

After the previous game I felt like I had restored a little respectability to my overall performance. For the final game I would again be facing something I had never faced before - The Herd. Having said that, I'm not sure this game was an accurate reflection of what playing them is normally like. This army was fast. Like, really really fast. The Cloven Stalkers formation meant that Josh's Tribal Warriors, Longhorns and Chieftain all got to vanguard at the start of the game. Between that and a ton of stuff with flying, it would be fair to say my list looked pretty slow.

No no, the game hasn't started yet. This is just Josh using vanguard to take liberties during deployment. Those guys are awfully close...

He was slightly more circumspect on my left, probably because I had 2 Warlords in Chariots (and most of my army) over there. The Flying Chieftain has sneaked up to hide behind the Great Totem. Within charge range of my Shooters.

I was really kind of hoping to get the first turn. But I didn't. Which meant I managed to get charged in my deployment zone, before I had a chance to move. Good times. The Longhorns on the right had the Brew of Haste, which gave them the speed to get to me. They did moderate damage, but bounced back. The other unit was just short, but close enough to dictate what I would have to do with my Warriors next turn.

The Chieftain flew in to disrupt my Shooters. He did minimal damage, but it was enough to stop them shooting for a turn.

Those Eagles were a real concern. They looked pretty scary on paper. In the flank they would be murder. And yes, they were tall enough to be watching me over that hill. The Chariot unit was carrying both of Josh's loot counters, so they were only movement 5 and their role was a bit muddled in this game. Of course, if necessary they could dump the counters to charge me. So their threat was still there.

That's a blurry photo. Anyway, the vanguarding Tribal Warriors slowed down to let the Spirit Walkers catch up. The Chimera flew in and used the Totem as cover from charges.

It felt like I had a lot of decisions to make in my turn. More than you would normally expect in your first turn, anyway. The Giant went in and destroyed the Beast Pack. It wasn't a threat in its own right, but it had the potential to mess with my lines. The Giant then reformed to put the enemy in his front and try to drag Josh's flanks toward me if he went for a big combined charge. Having been disordered by the Chieftain, my Shooters shrugged, hefted their enormous crossbows, stepped forward and bludgeoned their attacker to death. The subtle solution. the rest of my lines were a juggling act, trying to protect things and get them into position at the same time.

Having little choice in the matter, the Warriors charged the Longhorns directly in front of them and routed them straight up. There was no Inspiring over on this flank for Josh, and it was a real weakness. Fortunately for him my Boomers rolled poorly and only did a few wounds to their opponents. Which meant now it was my turn to bounce back, and the Eagles were waiting...

Apparently Josh didn't like my Giant. Or his warriors didn't, at least. The Chimera went into the Siegebreakers, more in the interest of blocking a potential flank charge than with the hope of doing much damage. At the top of the image you can see the base of one of the Eagle hordes, which had moved across to support this flank.

As expected, the Eagles swept into the flank of my Boomers and... had their way with them. No more Boomers. The Longhorns pulled one of those corkscrew charges and hit my Warriors, presumably figuring the Eagles had the other combat under control. Nearby, the remaining Beast Pack had scooped up the central loot token and was making a very slow escape.

It had been conceivable that the Giant might survive his encounter with the infantry, but by the time one of the units was Bane-chanted, they ended up seeing him off reasonably comfortably. They then had to decide which way to face, with Chariots and Ogres very which way.  

I had a bit of decision-making to deal with here, as there were a lot of charge targets and there were a couple of units lurking, waiting to pounce. In the end I sent both Chariots and the Shooters into the Tribal Warriors, the Siegebreakers counter-charged the Chimera, and the other unit charged the Great Totem. Because apparently you can kill it. So why not? Better to reduce the sources of Inspiring when you can.

On the other side of the tower my Warriors basically had no choice but to counter-charge the Longhorns. My Boomer Sergeant hurried out of the arc of the Eagles, because they were surely going to eat something that turn, and if the Warriors successfully routed the Longhorns and turned to face, there was a fair chance that the target would instead be him.

My charges went impressively well, really. My coordinated charge on the Tribal Warriors was enough to rout them, which allowed things to reform to face the enemy (or in the case of the Warlord in the middle, choose an enemy to face and try not to think about what else was watching). The 2 Siegebreaker units made short work of both the Chimera and Great Totem.

At much the same time, things were going surprisingly well on the other side of the tower. The Warriors did respectable damage to the Longhorns and routed them. Meanwhile the Boomer Sergeant fired a speculative shot at the Eagles. Why not? Need to start wearing their wounds down eventually. He rolled remarkably well, inflicting 5 wounds. Then came the nerve roll, and it was a double 6! Josh and I were both aghast at my good luck at wavering them, and only then did we do the math and realise that in fact I had somehow done just enough to rout them! I admit, I felt pretty guilty as he took the unit off. That was bogus rolling. Also, that one shot left me feeling pretty confident that whatever happened now, I was going to win the game.

In the face of my outrageous luck, Josh bravely soldiered on. The Eagles did indeed charge the exposed flank of the Chariot, however I was consoled by the knowledge that I had a whole lot of units nearby, ready to exact their revenge. The Spirit Walkers went into the other Chariot whilst the Shaman did his best to block my Siegebreakers. Actually, he was going to. But Josh eventually changed his mind and kept him back to Bane-chant the Spirit Walkers. I think he was resigned to the fate of the Eagles.

Meanwhile Josh's Chariots were rolling slowly toward my lines, whilst the Beat Pack turned around behind that tower and worked on running interference.

The Eagles in the flank were always likely to be too much for one of my Warlords, however I had thought the other one might get away with the Spirit Walker charge. They did just enough however, and suddenly I had lost most of the mobility (and Inspiring) on my left. It was probably a bit late for the Herd forces there.

The Eagles folded whilst I moved my Army Standard Bearer in to block the Spirit Walkers and buy my units time to regroup. I seem to recall that he bought more time than expected; it may have taken 2 turns for Josh to kill him. Either way, I did successfully clean up the left flank eventually.

The Warriors charged and killed the Beast Pack, and Josh finally committed with the Chariot horde. I believe he did manage to rout the Warriors, but it was too little, too late. My remaining units charged in and routed the Chariots in a round, and with that I held the field unopposed.

I think in that game I benefited from the general toughness of Ogre units and from a few favourable rolls. That Eagle unit on my right flank would doubtless have caused me real trouble had I not luckily cleaned it off the way I did. It was pretty clear that the push on my right flank had suffered badly from a lack of Inspiring. There was no way I would have been so fortunate there if I'd had to re-roll that nerve test, and both Longhorn units would have been in with a chance if I'd had to roll twice. 

Still, Josh probably needed to do more with the Chariots. I think the scenario didn't do him any favours. In a lightning-quick list, loot counters that drag you back to 5" a turn are really counter-productive. Not sure I would have put them on the Chariots, but they had to go somewhere.

Result: 18-3 win

So by the end of the tournament I had 3 decent wins, 2 relatively tight losses, and 2 absolute floggings. I finished pretty much dead middle of the field, which was not too bad. It could have been a lot worse when I was on 1 win and 4 losses. My opponents ended up being an amusing array from the field. I played the people who came 1st, 2nd, 5th, and then everyone in the bottom 4. I was a bit up and down, I guess you could say.

All in all I had a really good time, the event went smoothly and had a nice, relaxed atmosphere. I'll probably make a point of attending at least one more tournament this year. But not with Ogres, I think. Something different. We shall see!