This is the second part of my report of the recent Old World tournament, Snake Eyes. You can find the previous part here.
Game 2 - Hungry Hungry Host
David Hauser - Orc & Goblin Tribes
Drawn Battlelines (3 Strategic locations, Baggage train)
- Black Orc Warboss (General) on Wyvern with Additional Hand Weapon, Trollhide Trousers, Talisman Of Protection
- Night Goblin Oddgit (Level 1, Illusion)
- Night Goblin Oddgit (Level 1, Illusion)
- Orc Bigboss (BSB) on War Boar with Heavy Armour, Shield, Da Banner of Butchery, Spelleater Axe, 'Eadbuttin'At
- 18 Black Orcs with Stubborn, Veteran, Full Command, War Banner, Great Weapons, 14 Shields
- 35 Night Goblins with Shields, Full Command, 3 Fanatics
- 35 Night Goblins with Shields, Full Command, 3 Fanatics
- 8 Night Goblin Squig Hoppers with Boss
- 13 Orc Boar Boys with Cavalry Spear, Heavy Armour, Shield, Big Un's, Full Command, Da Thinkin’ Orc’s ’At, The Big Red Raggedy Flag
- Doom Diver Catapult
- Goblin Rock Lobber
Ah, Mr Hauser. We meet again! It had been barely a month since our last meeting, and David's list was quite similar to the previous time. Of course my list was very different, so it was unlikely to be the same game.
I started my deployment, and only after I'd placed my bonus forest did I really process where the deep points of my angled zone were. Oh well. Good thing I'm a professional...
My faster, harder hitting stuff was jammed over to the left, partly in response to the Boar Boys. I was also trying to keep my more valuable targets away from the Fanatics in the Night Goblin blocks.
David supplied the objective markers, which were piles of escaped Squigs from the pen up the back that was his baggage train. It won some sort of prize at the end. Anyway, it was going to be hard to get control of that objective with the Black Orcs in range, and a forest for them to hide behind.
My Scouts went on the flank, just in range of the objective there. This picture was after the first turn - David went first. He had commenced the game by misfiring with both of his war machines, blowing up the Rock Lobber. I was very appreciative.
The Night Goblins in the centre had grabbed the central objective, but my Dryads could squeeze closer around the terrain. I was hoping that would interfere with any Fanatics. The Treeman decided he could be brave and showed himself on the other side of the rock.
I had dodged a bullet over on the left. I realised when David got the first turn that my deployment was flawed. The Boar Boys could have moved up in such a way that only my Warhawks and Glade Lord would have been able to charge. The Wild Riders were trapped behind. Given my Lord is frenzied, he could have forced me to charge and then used counter-charge. That combat would likely have gone very badly for me. Fortunately, David decided that he wasn't ready to fight my Lord and had very specifically stayed out of range. He admitted (when I pointed it out) that he forgot my Lord was frenzied, or he might have played it differently. Anyway, having escaped a trap of my own making, I then moved up so that I couldn't be baited again without real support.
My Spellweaver was partly responsible for the depleted Boar Boys, having thrown Fury of Athel Loren into them. That's a nasty spell for the right sort of target. My Glade Guard had a limited impact on the central Night Goblins in the first turn, because they needed to move up onto the hill to get a good view.
This was unexpected. In David's second turn, he carefully kept the Boar Boys out of sight of my Glade Lord, but then poked the nose of the Wyvern into the forest. I couldn't believe my luck, really. Did he really want that fight? The Black Orcs could see now too, but that was not relevant...
The Night Goblin units both moved closer to control the objectives, and very pointedly stared at my units whilst fondling something hidden under their robes that looked an awful lot like other Goblins with a balls and chains... It's a particular sort of kink they have.
The Treeman could practically smell the Fanatics coming his way.
Guess what I did in my turn? Yes, I charged the Black Orc Warboss with my own general. It was the perfect target.
The Wild Riders were also compelled to charge, and did so. I cast Ariel's Blessing to give them a 5+ regeneration save, but I was a bit worried about this combat. Despite that, I decided to take a chance and move the Warhawks in behind them, because I wanted to get over the line and toward the enemy artillery and baggage train.
The Treeman endured the Fanatics admirably, shrugging off their efforts nearly unscathed and instead posing and flexing impressively. It was very macho of him. Great stuff.
Over on the other flank, the Fanatics fared little better. I lost a Sister of the Thorn, but I think the other two might have rolled doubles and knocked themselves out on the spot.
Stop, I'm missing some photos. Well, not entirely. But I don't really have a photo to tell the story of what happened next. My Glade Lord faced off with the Black Orc Warboss, using Orion's Favour to give himself re-rolls to hit and wound. He then opened up with his 6 attacks with monster slayer, ended up with a pair of killing blows, and it was more than the Black Orc's ward save could handle. Of course, if he'd passed them both I would have been cooked. I did take a wound from the Wyvern's venomous tail anyway, but it was a great outcome. I carried on out the other side of the forest, out of the way of those nasty Black Orcs.
The Wild Riders... Well. Let's just say they did not follow the noble example of their lord. With approximately eleventy billion high quality attacks, they managed to kill a mere 2 Boar Boys. Then the Orcs fought back, and we were wiped out to a man. Ariel's Blessing helped not one bit. It was all a bit gross.
Having humiliated the Wild Riders so badly, the Boar Boys then overran into the Warhawks, who had warned me I was taking a risk putting them there, but I had foolishly chosen to trust the Wild Rider to do... something. More than that. I should have been more patient, although realistically it was David's turn next, so I likely would have been somewhere in reach anyway.
So having carried clear of the Black Orcs, my Lord was now in danger of being swarmed by the Squig Hoppers. That would not have been ideal, except somehow David failed to make the 5" he needed on 3d6 to make it to me. As it turned out, this was a curse instead of a blessing. The Squigs hopped off sullenly in the other direction, and the Doom Diver turned and dropped a spiky Goblin on my head, killing me instantly. That was less heroic than I would have hoped. Oh well.
I had decided that the Night Goblins needed a proper volley from the Glade Guard before I engaged them, especially given they couldn't charge me because they'd move up too close to the rock (they couldn't wheel past). This did mean leaving the Treeman with 2 Fanatics right behind him, but he assured me it was all under control. The Dryads moved up to reclaim the objective and set up a flank charge.
I was actually shooting at the Night Goblins over on this flank - you can just barely tell because I wasn't really killing any of them. Hopefully the Fanatic wouldn't come back to make my life harder.
This was carelessness on my part. I had left the Night Goblins a maximum range charge. I forgot they got a re-roll on the charge from Warband, and of course they made it. It was unnecessary - I didn't have to be there.
With no great options, the other Night Goblins decided to impudently walk right onto the objective, directly in the face of my units. I guess if you're doomed, you might as well grab your 30 victory points...
The murder of my Warhawks was very gruesome, and we won't go into the details. But then they were gone, and the Boar Boys reformed to look at all my vulnerable stuff. That was not great.
This was the obvious course of action. Turn and rain hell on the Boar Boys, whilst knocking 3 off their strength with Sapping Blight. And get the Spellweaver the hell out of the way.
So this was a bit funny. The Sisters of the Thorn actually held their own pretty well in the fight. They lost 2 of their number and gave ground, but they were still there. I then decided to drop everything and attempt a rescue. The Dryads turned to charge in, and rolled double 1s. Which went well with the Scouts, who also tried to charge the flank. And rolled double 1s. No help for me.
The Treeman decided the Night Goblins were depleted enough that he could handle them on his own now. He charged, and of course rolled double 1s. What the hell? Someone actually asked me later if I'd done all this rolling with the same 2 dice, and I'm pretty sure I did. But it never occurred to me to change them. I'm a broken man - this is all normal. Anyway, that abysmal roll would have been enough anyway, if only the Night Goblins had passed their terror test. They did not. Nor did they pass either of the 2 rally tests they took afterward, and they scampered off the field.
You charge the Glade Guard, you get the arrows. That was the experience of the Boar Boys, with the stand and shoot dropping half of them on the way in.
Rather impressively, even at -3 strength and with only 3 models left, the unit managed to kill 5 Glade Guard. This meant that even when we killed the rest of the normal Boar Boys in combat, the Big Boss managed to give ground rather than turning and breaking like he probably should have under the circumstances. We declined the generous offer to step up after him, instead unlimbering our bows and pointing them all right into his face...
Somehow the volley that followed (and likely another copy of Fury of Athel Loren) was not enough to hurt the plucky BSB (which is slightly outrageous given the firepower involved, but I clearly didn't roll very well). My Treeman had headed off on a mission to fight (or at least block) the Black Orcs, and the Dryads were moving into a position to usher the Night Goblins off the field if necessary, but otherwise offer support. And we still had the objective.
The Sisters had been trying to cast Hammerhand, and actually managed it once or twice, but they got worn down by the Night Goblins and eventually perished. My Scouts, having failed their heroic intervention to save the Sisters, then had the shame of copping the Fanatic as it whirled past them randomly. It killed just the 1 Scout - exactly the number required to ensure we could no longer claim the objective. It was so frustrating!
The Treeman did a moderate job of fending off the Black Orcs, denting the unit significantly to begin with. It wasn't enough to win the combat however, and he fell back repeatedly. I think before this picture, the Dryads had gone into the flank to try to save the day. They killed a couple, but the Treeman was by this point flailing around uselessly and didn't pull his weight. The Dryads fell back, the Treeman fought on alone, and got cut down. It had been a bit unlucky - the Dryad charge should have been enough.
What happened here? I'm pretty sure that the Orc BSB, rather than trying his luck solo against the Glade Guard again, spun and charged my Spellweaver (being no longer hindered by having a cumbersome unit to lead around). My Spellweaver barely survived, but managed to just about hold her ground - enough for the Glade Guard to then charge into the flank, challenge with the champion to save the wounded Spellweaver, and break the Orc. My Spellweaver ran him down, but for some reason I left the Glade Guard hanging - no idea why they were facing like this. I don't think I failed to restrain pursuit, but maybe I did. I know I was thinking about moving back to the baggage train, but they should have at least been facing the other way. Anyway, the Squig Hoppers got to our flank.
The Squigs chowed down on my unit pretty hard, but mercifully didn't catch them when they fell back. It was the end of the game, so there were no more rounds of that combat (which likely would have been bad).
So by the end of the game, there really wasn't that much left. I had fewer than half of my Glade Guard, a Spellweaver on one wound, and slightly humiliated units of Scouts and Dryads. David still had his Doom Diver, the Squig Hoppers, and what remained of the Black Orcs, and half of one of the Night Goblin units. The little Shaman in the unit might have survived too. After the objective points were tallied, the game was a bloody draw.
Result: 10-10 Draw
On the other tables, everyone else had thumping wins. Nick's Beastmen beat Cathay 18-2, whilst Pete's Chaos and Ben's Vampires won 18-2 against Wild Herd and Dark Elves respectively. So really I was holding the team back, but our score was well and truly capped for the round anyway. A 50-30 win!
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