Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 6

This is the final part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 6 - Command & Control
Callum Borthwick - Ogre Kingdoms

• Tyrant on Thundertusk with Deathcheater, Ironfist, Light Armour, Tenderiser, Talisman Of Protection
• Slaughtermaster (Level 4, Battle Magic) with Deathcheater, Grut’s Sickle
• Bruiser with Battle Standard (Bull Standard), Deathcheater, Light Armour
• 20 Gnoblar Fighters
• 6 Ironguts with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour, Full Command, Veteran, The Blazing Banner
• 6 Ogre Bulls with Ironfists, Light Armour, Full Command, Cannibal Totem
• Ironblaster 
• 4 Maneaters with Light Armour, Full Command, Immune to Psychology, Poisoned Attacks
• 4 Mournfang Cavalry with Light Armour, Ironfists, Full Command
• 3 Yhetees with Greyback, Scouts

These Titan Forge Ogres are very nice. That is a Tyrant on a Thundertusk. Naturally it scuttles sideways (he's facing the camera)

I obviously missed taking a photo right at the start somehow - I've obviously started moving already here. The Ogre with the barrel in the centre of the field was marking the objective we were meant to be contesting. Not gonna lie - I forgot about it. I think I needed a more obvious marker, despite the fact that I'm sure I looked at it multiple times and remembered each time why he was there. Anyway, I moved up reasonably aggressively, whilst trying to avoid getting shot somewhere it would really hurt, or getting charged by Mournfangs.

On the other flank I moved up hard. The Bloodthirster blocked the Ironguts.

The Bloodletters headed straight toward the objective. Those are the Yhetees in the forest.

Missing photos again... I think I was getting pretty tired at this point. I was also a bit distracted ensuring that Callum knew what was happening, given it was apparent that he was pretty new to this - he had no idea how challenges worked. I tried to explain them when the Ironguts charged the Bloodthirster. I was basically saying "you really want to challenge with the champion, or your unit is doomed". Anyway, he did. The champion died of course, but the unit survived and got pushed back. The Furies flanked them and the Bloodthirster instead reformed and charged the Yhetees who were right in front of the flank of the Tyrant.

Over on the other flank, I managed to get most of my stuff outside of the arc of the things I was worried about. The Daemon Prince was right over looking at the Slaughtermaster. The Fiends had copped a hiding, including a cannonball from the Ironblaster. They ended up deciding to run through the Pillar of Fire in the hope of getting to something relevant and not just becoming roadkill.

This... did not go as expected. I had crippled the Ironguts with Gift of Mutation, lowered their leadership with Gathering Darkness, and I had 8 attacks in the flank that should have made mincemeat of them. I rolled like a potato and did 2 wounds, took 2 in return, and lost the combat. What a god of Warhammer I am.

This went more as expected, at least. The Yhetee champion got obliterated in a challenge, the unit fell back in good order, and the Bloodthirster carried into the Tyrant. In the combat that followed, the Bloodthirster did a ton of wounds (maybe 7) and took 3 in return. The Tyrant gave ground a smidge and the combat continued.

I think the Yhetees changed their minds about which direction they would face when they rallied, and decided to charge the Bloodletters.

This wasn't meant to happen. The Furies were meant to have this under control!

The Bloodletters obviously made hard work of beating the Yhetees, but they did chase them off. Then they ended up in combat with the Maneaters led by the BSB. I can't remember who charged.

Over on the right, things were happening. The Mournfangs got sick of waiting and went into the forest. The Ogre Bulls stayed away from the forest, but were well within range of the Bloodcrushers.

In my turn I did what I could to try to remove the enemy units. Furies into the rear of the Mournfangs whilst the Herald went into the front. The Bloodcrushers into the Ogre Bulls, and the Fiend (on one wound) decided maybe it had the muscle to kill a unit of Gnoblars.

The Daemon Prince charged the Slaughtermaster, from which he hoped to overrun into Callum's hand (it looked vulnerable). Unfortunately the Bloodletters started to take casualties as the Pillar of Fire (which I simply can't dispel) rolled through them.

The Furies decided to try the rear of the Ironguts, now that they had killed my Flamers. I didn't have hex spells to help me this time, but we would get more attacks.

The Mournfangs fell back in good order, and the combat continued. I can't tell what's going on with the Furies here. I think they were still in the fight, but now in the front (and with far fewer attacks)

The Bloodcrushers made a mess of the Ogre Bulls, but they just fell back in good order and the fight went on. The Fiend survived a round against the Gnoblars, but unfortunately the Daemon Prince only managed a couple of wounds against the Slaughtermaster.

The Furies of course fought like idiots again and got smashed down by the Ironguts. The Bloodthirster failed to get a wound through against the Tyrant and took 2 more in return. He had started so well...

The Bloodthirster now found himself encircled. Of course he challenged the Tyrant in the hope of finishing the job there. He failed, and died as a result. I think the Thundertusk sat on him with thunderstomps. Seriously, 3 rounds of combat without killing him... That's pathetic. I think my dice were tired after a long weekend.

The Bloodletters were not getting badly beaten in combat, but the Pillar of Fire was still walking through them. I hate that spell.

The Furies and Herald continued to work on the Mournfangs, but it was slow progress.

It seems like my photos are getting thin, but here's what happened here. The Bloodcrushers got rid of the Ogre Bulls, and ended up going in to avenge the Fiend after the Gnoblars fired up and killed it. Actually, I think that's a lie. I think the Gnoblars killed the Fiend, decided they were psycho killers, and charged the Bloodcrushers. It turned out that a single crippled Fiend is a more achievable opponent. They got murdered by the Bloodcrushers. The Fleshhounds never got to fight in this game. They kept being out of arc, or blocked by their friends. If I'd remembered the objective, they might have been important. The Daemon Prince killed the Slaughtermaster on the second attempt in a challenge and I think shoved back the Yhetees who had arrived to help. He then buffed himself with magic, charged the Tyrant, and killed him. So he successfully avenged the Bloodthirster.

I think this is how this combat ended. There was still a Mournfang alive, and I had lost the Furies. So I had no points for my efforts, but had managed to concede some.

No more Tyrant.

It was only at the end that I remembered the objective. The Bloodletters were still standing on it. Or rather I say, the Bloodletter, singular. His unit was gone. It was just the unit champion remaining. And he managed to pass a save or two to still be standing after combat. But he had to take an instability test on Leadership 4. If he passed, I would win the game. If he failed, I would concede 600 points and lose.

He failed. He disappeared and I lost control of the objective.

It was another frustrating game. My units just couldn't get the job done. It would have been a massive stroke of luck if the Bloodletter had survived to control the forgotten objective, but I had lost control of the game elsewhere.

Final tally was 2004-1469.

Result: 8-12 Loss

And that concludes my account of Cancon 2025. I ended the tournament with only 2 wins from my 6 games, and finished something like 37th out of the starting 54 participants. A less than glorious performance, but that was OK. Thanks to the organisers, to all of my opponents, and thanks for reading!