Big Old Grudges Aftermath - Part 6

This is the sixth and final part of my account of the recent Big Old Grudges tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Round 6: Upon the Field of Glory (Strategic Locations 3; Domination)
Matt Hinton - Chaos Dwarfs

• Sorcerer-Prophet (General, Level 4, Elementalism) with Tome Of Spellcraft, Mantle of Stone
• Black Orc Warboss with Great Weapon, Levitating Shield, Trollhide Trousers, Effigy Of Mork
• Infernal Seneschal Battle Standard Bearer with Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, The Lammasu's Beard, Charmed Shield, Arch-Lightning Rod
• Bull Centaur Taur’ruk with Great Weapon, Charmed Shield, 2x Mantle of Stone
• 19 Black Orcs with mix of Great Weapons, Shields, Boss, Standard Bearer, Monster Hunter's Tapestry
• 18 Hobgoblin Cutthroats with Shields, Boss
• 10 Infernal Guard with Hailshot Blunderbusses, Shield, Drilled, Deathmask, Standard Bearer, Overseer's Sigil
• 5 Bull Centaur Renders with Great Weapon, Bull Centaur Ba’hal, Standard Bearer, Rampaging Banner
• Iron Daemon with Steam Cannonade
• Iron Daemon with Steam Cannonade, Hellbound

Going into this game, I was aware that I had crept up the tables and was now in 5th place. This meant I was probably within reach of the podium if I somehow ended up with a good win. Obviously this was a very bad position for me to be in...

Yes, this is after we had both finished deploying. I was definitely out-deployed. Matt was able to buy a little time before committing by placing the Hobgoblin units, and I had to place important stuff early because I had no throw-away deployments. By the time it was apparent that he was going to stack things on my right flank, my deployment was pretty much done.

The Bull Centaur hero didn't join the unit, showing the sort of confidence that being Toughness 7 probably gives you.

I put the scouts hard on the other flank where they would hopefully help me clear off the noise on the left and let my army sweep around across the centre of the field.

I would have liked the first turn to give me more time to compensate for deployment, but didn't get it. The enemy advance was pretty cautious - the face-off between my Mournfangs and the Bull Centaurs was a bit of a thing. Both units desperately wanted the charge. The Mournfangs copped the full attention of the enemy shooting, but I rolled like a fiend for my saves and basically shrugged it all off.

The Hobgoblins on the other flank were sneaking up next to the very large elf head, hoping to make a nuisance of themselves.

In my turn it was a bit hard to work out what to do on this flank. I was obviously badly outnumbered and out-muscled, but my options were limited whilst I tried to play for time (without edging back far enough that one panic test would see us off the table). The Mournfangs backed up enough that the Iron Daemons would have to move forward again if they wanted to shoot them. The Bulls (led by my BSB) stepped forward to threaten the nearest Iron Daemon and maybe draw some of the enemy's attention.

On the other side, we advanced as well as we could, trying to sweep around the end of the enemy line.

The elf head made things a bit of a traffic jam, unfortunately.

In Matt's turn he moved the Hobgoblins up in an effort to further compound my traffic issues

On the other flank, the Bull Centaur Taur’ruk swung right around on the flank, whilst everything else largely sat still. As per my plan, the shooting swung its attention to the Bulls, and also as per my plan (yeah, right) I continued to save really well for the unit. I passed a ton of Regeneration saves, which minimised the damage we took (a total of 5 unsaved wounds in the end). Unfortunately, one of the things that hit them was Wind Blast, and that shoved them back to put them out of range of the Iron Daemon. So much for that plan.

This was a problem. He ensured he was at least 7" away, so that I couldn't just shunt the unit sideways to negate impact hits (I had been intending to do that until he thought of it himself).

In my turn, the Hobgoblins did indeed cause me trouble. The Stonehorn couldn't charge without the Ironguts charging as well, and then in the end there wasn't room for him to fit, so he failed the charge. Then because the units were so close and I got so few Ogres into contact, we didn't do enough damage to really swat the unit away, and Matt passed a Ld 4 test to give ground. So we lost an extra 2D6 move as a result. Very frustrating.

Given I couldn't reduce the threat of the Taur’ruk, I now looked at my other options (like lunging the unit forward to try to get so close that the Bull Centaurs and both Iron Daemons wouldn't get impact hits). I needed maybe 1" more Movement to do it - one of them was still going to hit us, and I couldn't afford that on top of all the other damage. So in the end the best plan was to sit tight and hope the Taur’ruk lacked the minerals to get the job done.

Having foolishly assumed that most of my army would be able to deal with the Hobgoblins behind them, the Hunter and his Sabretusks headed for the enemy's flank.

At this point the Taur’ruk charged the flank of the Mournfangs, and the rest of the line decided it was time to advance. The Iron Daemons continued to pour fire into the Bulls, but at least they were moving now and the damage remained under control. In the Mournfang combat, the Taur’ruk failed to kill my champion, but I bounced off his Toughness 7. We lost by a couple, our leadership wasn't too hot, the BSB was nearby...

Yeah, we couldn't even manage to fall back in good order. Routed clear off the table.

In the second round of combat, the Hobgoblins lost a bit more convincingly and broke. Restraining pursuit, I then set about working out what I could do in terms of a reform to try to get me to the enemy in my next turn. I didn't have time to wait, given what was happening elsewhere.

A fair bit of marking and shuffling occurred, before it was decided that this was the best I could do. We could get there with a bit enough roll, but how many of us?

In hindsight, there were multiple things wrong with how I approached the puzzle above. I would have been better off reforming on a much sharper angle with my closest corner being on my left. That way if I'd made the distance, the free closing the action would have swung the rest of the unit in and given me more in contact. It might have been possible: I didn't check at the time. 

I also forgot that my Slaughtermaster had both Column of Crystal and Miasmic Mirage, both of which could have interfered with Matt's ability to respond in the next turn - if only I wasn't hell bent on charging with the Slaughtermaster. I actually forgot to try to cast Miasmic Mirage and then could not cast the other, but both spells would really have been an alternative to a stretched charge, rather than part of it. Anyway...

So even with a good charge roll, this was the best I could do. Barely anyone in contact, apart from all the Sabretusks in the flank. We did have Glittering Robe and Regeneration, so that was something.

Matt helps me out by stirring the Slaughtermaster's cauldron with his finger (no idea what he was actually pointing at). Note that my BSB had abandoned the Bull unit to their fate, and the rest of my units were still swinging around, but at this point were little more than a second wave.

The combat did not go especially well. Some of my attacks were wasted trying to hurt the Black Orc Warboss on the corner of the unit, and the one thing that really made Matt nervous (Spectral Doppleganger with the Skullplucker) did not eventuate. The Black Orcs were able to rain great weapon attacks on me, whereas ours largely missed. Both of my units gave ground, and the Black Orcs followed up against the Ironguts.

Then there was this, and lo, it was bad...

The blunderbusses had a brief dream of shooting my Sabretusks, but then reality kicked in and not a lot came of it. The Sorcerer Prophet was in this little unit, but it wasn't looking like I would get a chance to reach him. He started throwing Ash Cloud around, and any real chance of my units making headway in the combats (not that there was much at this point) pretty much faded away.

The Iron Daemons realised they were no longer required where they had been, and instead swung around and fired at my BSB. He died immediately.

The Ironguts lost combat again, this time falling back in good order. We won't talk about what happened to the Bulls, but it wasn't pretty.

I don't know what I thought I was doing here. I do know I had still forgotten those important spells, which would have given me options I wasn't considering. With the Ironguts still in a wide formation, I tried charging things in again, but couldn't make room for everything. It meant the Sabretusks arrived alone (which was bad). The Tyrant at least got to have a turn of swinging at an Iron Daemon. That was good as he was the one thing in my army likely to really dent one. Unfortunately, he didn't. He took more damage than he inflicted, and bounced back.

In the closing stages, I was reduced to fleeing a charge with the Mournfangs, trying again and failing to impress anyone with another attempt on the Iron Daemon, and losing another round of combat with the Ironguts against the Black Orcs. The Ironguts got away and I did have the last turn, so everything managed to rally at the end, but I had basically bounced off the Chaos Dwarf army - the only thing of note in my favour was that the Slaughtermaster managed to get his nasty claw on the Infernal Seneschal BSB, and twist his head clean off in gruesome fashion.

By the time the control of the table was factored in, I had lost by a fair margin.

Victory Points: 710-2068
Result: 4-16 Loss

In the final reckoning, I had managed to propel Matt up onto the podium in third place and ended up down in 11th or something. I did manage to snag the best sports award, which was nice. My luck had been a little up and down, but I felt like I had been fortunate to be so close to the podium going into the last round, before the inevitable correction.

The event was smooth and I think everyone had a good time. Thanks to Mark for running it, and thank you to all of my opponents. Now I'm off to explain to my Tyrant how the Tenderiser works - clearly I should have done that before the tournament!