Axemaster 2024 - Part 3

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

Game 3 - Open Battle
Brian Holland - Vampire Counts

• Master Necromancer (Level 4, Necromancy) with Spell Familiar, Sceptre Of De Noirot
• Vampire Count on Zombie Dragon with Beguile, Biting Blade, Armour of Silvered Steel, Talisman Of Protection
• Vampire Thrall (Level 1, Dark Magic) with Battle Standard, Dark Acolyte, Spell Familiar
• 10 Crypt Ghouls with Crypt Ghast
• 5 Dire Wolves with Doom Wolf
• 5 Dire Wolves with Doom Wolf
• 20 Skeleton Warriors with Full Command, Thrusting Spears
• 30 Skeleton Warriors with Full Command
• 40 Zombies with Standard Bearer, Musician
• Corpse Cart with Warped Tintinnabulation
• 20 Grave Guard with Full Command
• 5 Blood Knights with Full Command
• 5 Blood Knights with Full Command, Supernatural Horror (Kastellan)

So I was up to my third and final game, but somehow I had only played a total of 7 turns, and not a lot had really happened. Hopefully this game would improve that.

Brian deployed both units of Blood Knights in a forest because he didn't fully understand how the terrain worked. He had fooled me - I had assumed he had some cunning plan I couldn't fathom.

The Zombie Dragon was lurking behind the hill, and seemed likely to cause me problems unless Ungrim somehow got to grips with it and fired up. Well, I had intentionally made my list to be a bit hardened to the threat of dragons, so maybe it would be OK. The Dire Wolves used vanguard at the same time as my Doomseekers and Dragonslayer did.

Being amazing, I got the first turn and advanced bravely in column formations, mainly because I could, and it was another thing my list had been made to do if it found the chance. My shooting removed one unit of Dire Wolves and a chunk from the other.

Slayers were anchoring both of my flanks. I hoped the Doomseeker would find a way to deal with the Ghouls, because I didn't really want them charging the Trollslayers.

Look at that speed! Beer powered columns of marching Dwarfs. So agile. So beautiful.

The Zombies wasted no time advancing in response, aided by Hellish Vigour. The orange template is a Spiritual Vortex that was cast in the first turn and would remain for the entire game. I simply couldn't dispel it, even though I tried.

The Ghouls and Dire Wolves also headed for my lines, but they were rather lacking support.

I considered whether I really wanted to be bogged in what was obviously intended to be a tar pit of Zombies, but they had advanced so close that some of my troops were going to be unable to avoid it. So the drilled Warriors expanded their frontage and charged with support from the other Doomseeker. Between them they did pretty significant damage to the enemy unit.

The Hammerers also shifted into a more battle-ready formation, right next to the nasty vortex.

The Ghouls had come too close to the Doomseeker on my flank, and he made extremely short work of them. The Trollslayers continued across the rather lonely expanse toward the Skeletons, in the absence of any better target.

The Hammerers had gotten close enough to interest the Blood Knights, and they charged in despite Ungrim's presence. This was apparently a sound plan, as they did enough damage to basically prevent any return attacks from the Hammerers, and Ungrim struggled to make decent headway against them.

The Trollslayers eventually engaged the Skeletons, and would spend the rest of the game struggling against them and very slowly losing their own numbers. The Doomseeker did eventually manage to get in to help (he was meant to be there from the beginning), but my units couldn't do enough damage to make real headway. By the end of the game the Skeletons, Doomseeker and Trollslayers were all still there - but the Trollslayers had been reduced to a single model.

The Vampire on her Zombie Dragon had flown up into a possition of prominence on the hill in the centre of the field, and I had a decision to make - open up on it with my shooting and try to start wearing it down, or go the more direct approach and hope for an exciting performance from the Dragonslayer. It was a Dragon, after all (or what was left of one). He assured me that he had this under control. Unfortunately, he was wrong. He couldn't get a blow past the Vampire's saving throws, and narrowly succumbed in return. The presence of the Trollslayers was not enough for me to win the fight (there were too few of them and they are only Open Order), so they got shoved back and the Zombie Dragon was free.

The Blood Knights had badly dented the Hammerers, and would eventually wipe them out (with the assistance of some undead magic, including some of the fallen Blood Knights being raised back to keep fighting). Ungrim battled on, but couldn't get enough damage past their saves to deal with them. I did at one point send my Thane with the battle standard into the flank to help - it was a mistake. The Blood Knight on the end beat him down without even bothering to look at him. It was extremely disdainful (and some pretty hot rolling). That was the only trick I had to try to free up Ungrim. He was still fighting them at game's end.

The second unit of Blood Knights eventually left the cover of the forest and tried to get involved, but my shooting spotted them and removed the unit. 

Having shoved the Trollslayers back, the Zombie Dragon was able to reform to face along my lines and threaten the flank of the Warriors.

The Warriors had busted through the Zombies after a few rounds, and overran into the enemy battle standard bearer. The Corpse Cart had charged in to support her, but with my Lord on shieldbearers in there, it was a losing fight. The Zombie Dragon first charged the Doomseeker (who had overrun a very underwhelming distance, and was now sitting back next to the flank of the Warrior unit). He died very quickly, allowing the Dragon to overrun and fight again against the Warriors.

To begin with the Warriors were able to hold their own, compensating for the damage the Dragon inflicted by finishing up the Corpse Cart and Vampire Thrall. But then the Lord challenged, again trying to perform the role he was meant for - to tank a high power target and protect his unit, buying time. He did it OK, but was taking wounds faster than I had hoped, whilst offering no chance of doing wounds in return against the Vampire's saves. I sent the Slayers into the rear to try to help us actually win a round of combat, but at didn't work... We won combat, but because the Slayers were behind the Dragon, it couldn't be pushed back. This meant the Warriors couldn't turn to face the enemy because they never had the chance to reform. Very frustrating.

Eventually the Slayers got engaged and beaten by the Grave Guard, and the Warriors fell back in good order away from the Zombie Dragon. At that point we were out of time, and the game had to be halted after 5 turns - the closest I had gotten to actually finishing a game, but still not a full 6 turn battle.

I had lost the Hammerers, my BSB and partial points for one unit of Slayers. I had also lost a Doomseeker and the Dragonslayer, but they didn't give up points (unlike the one who was grumpy about still being alive). In return I had killed a unit of Blood Knights, the Dire Wolves, Ghouls, Zombies, Corpse Cart and Thrall. It was enough to buy me a very narrow win, 867 victory points to 618. Yay, not a draw!

Result: 11-9 Win

So with that, the game was over. In conclusion, I had very nearly had the most Dwarfish of tournaments, with nothing but draws. I had been pushed around enormously by magic, finding myself practically incapable of stopping a spell all day (I dispelled maybe 3). I had also found my games running out of time, really badly. I didn't like that, and resolved that my next list would hopefully do something to address all of these issues. On to Cancon! 

Axemaster 2024 Aftermath - Part 2

This is the second part of my account of Axemaster. You can find the previous part here.

Game 2 - Mountain Pass
Nathan Shipley - Orc and Goblin Tribes

Black Orc Warboss on Wyvern with Talisman Of Protection, Trollhide Trousers, Great Weapon, Shield

Night Goblin Oddnob (Level 4, Waaagh! Magic) with Idol Of Gork

Night Goblin Warboss with Big Boss 'At, Wollopa's One Hit Wunds, Great Weapon, Light Armour, Shield

Orc Bigboss with Battle Standard, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Shield

Orc Weirdnob (Level 4, Battle Magic) with Buzgob’s Knobbly Staff

19 Black Orcs with The Big Red Raggedy Flag, Full Command, half with Great Weapons and Shields, half with Additional Hand Weapons

10 Goblins with Shortbows, Skirmishers

10 Goblin Spider Riders with Full Command, Light Armour, Shortbows, Cavalry Spears

5 Goblin Wolf Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields

30 Night Goblins with Full Command, 3 Fanatics, Netters, Thrusting Spears, Shields

21 Night Goblins with Full Command, 2 Fanatics, Shortbows, Da Spider Banner

12 Orc Boar Boys with Full Command, Big Un's, Waaagh! Banner, Cavalry Spears, Heavy Armour, Shields

Orc Boar Chariot

So more Orcs and Goblins, this time with a proper number of Orcs and Goblins and no Trolls at all. Played down the length of the table (realistically just giving us a narrower deployment zone). Nathan definitely approached this game like he knew what he was doing. I guess at least that made one of us...

All lined up and facing each other... Sideways. That Black Orc by himself was a placeholder for the whole unit (including BSB and Weirdnob/Great Shaman) because the hill was interfering.

Axemaster 2024 Aftermath - Part 1

Well, it has certainly been a while. I don't think I've ever gone 6 months without a blog post before. I am ashamed, and don't really have a good excuse.

In recent months my hobby efforts have been a bit all over the place. I've spent a fair bit of time painting battlemechs and vehicles for Alpha Strike, I've refurbished a whole ton of cheap snow-covered trees into various shades of green and red, and I've played the odd game.

A whole lot of Steiner vehicles in Lyran Guard colours.

Many many trees getting the green treatment.

A game of Alpha Strike against Clan Wolf.

Even games of Battletech can start to look appealing once you introduce some 3D terrain.

This was a larger Old World game against Sean's Beastmen.

This game was a failed attempt to make Empire infantry work against High Elf cavalry (and pillars of flame). A cautionary tale.

Anyway, whilst all that was happening, someone decided we should run an Old World Axemaster tournament, and so of course I declared I would enter it. I think it was kind of intended as a practice event for Cancon (both of them are 2400pts), so all I had to do was decide what army to take. Ummm.... yeah.

I spent a lot of time thinking about various plans, being dissatisfied with them, and changing to different plans. I stared at Ogres a lot. Like, it was a whole lot of staring. You would have been impressed. But nothing ever came of it. My Ogres give me headaches at the moment. In the end I decided I would take Dwarfs, because I had bought a beer pony and Doomseekers, and needed some motivation to paint them.

Axemaster was just a one-day, 3 game event. I admit I might not have prepared for it in as dedicated fashion as I probably should have. But Cancon is a 3-day, 6 game event that's occurring in a few weeks... and I intend not to prepare for that as well as I should either. So like I say, Axemaster was good practice...

Given the tournament was in the lead-up to Christmas, it's taken me a long time to get around to putting together this blog post. Some of the details are pretty hazy, so bear with me.

Dwarf Royal Clan (2400 points)

• Ungrim Ironfist
• King on Shieldbearers with Rune of Fortitude, Rune of Preservation, Master Rune of Gromril, Great Weapon
• Dragon Slayer with Rune of the Dishonoured, Great Weapon
• Runesmith with Battle Standard, Rune of Spellbreaking, Great Weapon, Shield, Full Plate Armour
• 10 Quarrellers with Full Command, Shields
• 20 Royal Clan Warriors with Standard Bearer, Veteran, Shields, Drilled
• 8 Slayers with Great Weapons (2 Giant Slayers with Additional Hand Weapons, 1 with Standard)
• 8 Slayers with Great Weapons (2 Giant Slayers with Additional Hand Weapons)
• 19 Hammerers with Full Command, Drilled
• Bugman's Cart
• Doomseeker
• Doomseeker
• Bolt Thrower with Rune of Skewering
• Bolt Thrower with Rune of Skewering, Stalwart Rune
• 6 Irondrakes with Standard Bearer, Ironwarden with Trollhammer Torpedo
• 6 Irondrakes with Standard Bearer, Ironwarden with Trollhammer Torpedo

So that was my army. Lots of units, not a lot of war machines, but theoretically enough shooting to make a high value target think twice about just messing around in front of my lines. I was admittedly worried I'd run into an endless wall of dragons. The King was primarily a tank to give me another thing to try to hold one up. Most of my list would be annoying for a dragon to try to pick off. I didn't really think I could kill one unless something funny happened with Ungrim, but I just didn't want it to be a procession. I also took almost no magic defence, figuring I'd just have to ride the magic out. That may have been a mistake...

Axemaster 2023 Aftermath - Part 3

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

With one game to go, I was now sitting on a win and a loss. Coming away with more wins than losses would feel like a solid success for the event, so now I just had to win my final game.

Game 3 - Pitched Battle
Jonathan Harry - Vampire Counts

• Blood Dragon Vampire Lord on Barded Nightmare with Full Plate Armour, Shield, Great Weapon, Ring of the Night, Black Periapt, Red Fury, Heart Piercing
• Necromancer (Level 2) with Book of Arkhan, Dispel Scroll
• Necromancer (Level 2) with Spell Familiar, Dispel Scroll
• 20 Skeleton Warriors with Light Armour, Shields, Full Command
• 20 Zombies with Standard Bearer, Musician
• 9 Ghouls
• 5 Dire Wolves
• 5 Dire Wolves
• 25 Grave Guard with Heavy Armour, Shields, Full Command, War Banner
• 9 Black Knights with Heavy Armour, Shields, Barding, Full Command, Banner of the Barrows
• 4 Fell Bats
• 3 Spirit Hosts

A Blood Dragon Vampire and enough magic to pretty easily force some spells past my defences... This game could be a struggle. This time the scenario was a normal battle, so I didn't have to worry about controlling something in particular. I could focus on... Not dying.

Deployment was interesting. I decided to anchor my flank with the forest, and put the Republican Guard closest to it in the hope that it would keep any fighting to their front. I found Jono's placement of his Vampire lord unusual. Putting cavalry out on the flank is nothing really new, but when it's taking the main combat threat in your force and the ability to march within his leadership range over there, and there's a forest blocking you from the enemy's flank. In his defence, he hasn't played as much 6th edition as he has 8th edition Warhammer... He might have forgotten what a barrier that forest would likely be.

All lined up and ready to go.

Axemaster 2023 Aftermath - Part 2

This is the second part of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the first part here.

My first game had not gone particularly well, but there was still plenty of time to salvage some respectability for the mercenary Ogres.

Game 2 - Take and Hold
Orest Mikulin - Orcs and Goblins

• Orc Warboss on Wyvern with Light Armour, Fumpa's Club of Fumpin (+2 Strength), Ironskin Shield
• Orc Big Boss on Boar with Battle Standard, Drog's Dead Ard Armour (1+ save), Sword of Might
• Night Goblin Shaman (Level 2) with Mad Cap Mushrooms
• Night Goblin Shaman (Level 2) with Nibbla's Itty Ring
• 20 Night Goblins with Full Command, Spears, Shields, 3 Netters, 3 Fanatics
• 20 Night Goblins with Full Command, Spears, Shields, 2 Netters, 3 Fanatics
• 5 Wolf Riders with Musician, Spears, Short Bows, Shields
• 5 Wolf Riders with Musician, Spears, Short Bows, Shields
• 20 Black Orcs with Full Command, Great Weapons, War Banner
• Goblin Rock Lobber
• Goblin Spear Chukka
• Goblin Spear Chukka
• 6 Trolls
• Giant

Orest was running a very classic style of Orc and Goblin army. Wyvern, Giant, Trolls... All the "good" stuff (by which I mean, all the stuff you want, but which might not actually end up being any good). This felt like a list that lined up better with mine in terms of power level. The scenario offered 500 victory points at the end of the battle if you controlled the centre point of the table (that pile of sandbags in the picture below). 500 is a lot of points, so this was something you couldn't really afford to ignore entirely. I won the roll-off for table edge and actually bothered changing sides (I don't normally, because I'm very lazy). 2 hills seemed a little too convenient when he had 3 war machines...

Lining up my troops, looking at my units, wondering who is really disposable enough to "draw out" the Fanatics... Not really something I factored into my list building. Nobody wanted to volunteer, especially when one unit had Mad Cap Mushrooms (which doubles the Fanatic impact on the turn they're released).

Axemaster 2023 Aftermath - Part 1

Well, I have survived another 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament. We decided to resurrect our local tournament Axemaster after maybe a 7 year gap, running it using 6th edition because that seems to be where most of the enthusiasm is at present. I've posted my slightly dubious list previously, but here it is again for reference:

• Tyrant with Heavy Armour, Luck Gnoblar, Tenderiser, Wyrdstone Necklace
• Bruiser with Battle Standard, Heavy Armour, Luck Gnoblar, Sword of Might, Talisman of Protection
• Butcher with 2 Dispel Scrolls
• 6 Ogre Bulls with Light Armour, Iron Fists, Standard Bearer, Crusher
• 3 Ironguts with Standard Bearer, Look-Out Gnoblar, Great Weapons, Heavy Armour
• 3 Ironguts with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour
• 2 Leadbelchers with Light Armour
• 20 Ricco's Republican Guard (Regiment of Renown)
• 10 Braganza's Besiegers (Regiment of Renown)
• 6 Voland's Venators (Regiment of Renown)
• 1 Bull Rhinox Rider with Heavy Armour, Iron Fist

I was focusing on it more as an opportunity to use stuff like Dogs of War, and trying not to think too hard about how my games would likely go... Well, now we can find out how big a mistake that was.

Braganza's Besiegers and Axemaster list

Axemaster is in 2 days, and I'm happy to say that I'm pretty well on track in terms of my preparations. My list is settled, painting is almost done, and I've already come to terms with how badly I might lose some of my games!

Braganza's Besiegers are now ready for the table, which means all I have left to paint now is a Lookout Gnoblar to put on one of my unit standards. In some ways this unit felt a bit like a salvage project. They were rummaging around in bags, missing bits, some with rough undercoat/removed paint on them. I obviously picked them up second-hand back in the day, when my Empire army was really just formed up as a way to use my Dogs of War.

10 Besiegers, painted up to go with the purple and white of my core Empire "mercenary" army. I stuck with the rough design of the shields used in the original GW studio photos, even though I changed the colours from red and green.

Mercenary Ogre Tyrant

Axemaster is in less than a week, and I've been making reasonable progress on my preparations.

I now have a new Ogre Tyrant model, made to try to tie in with the armoured aesthetic of Ricco's Republican Guard and Voland's Venators. This is important, because they will all be in my list, and it's important to focus on capturing the vibe when winning most of my games is probably off the table...

One heavily armoured Ogre with a very large hammer. I struggled to decide on colours for him, and in the end the hammer grip was kind of me not making a decision at all - there was room for both colours!

The Road to Axemaster

Oh my. How long has it been? No wait, don't look at that - you'll go blind. Let's just say that it's been a while. I have been a naughty and neglectful blogger, but I'm still here. Lurking quietly in the shadows or something.

In terms of gaming, the club has recently seen a bit of a resurgence of interest in Mordheim. It's never really been a big focus for me - I think the best thing about the game is the tables some people create for it - ones you could never really use for a battle game like Warhammer. Anyway, I've joined in with a Sisters of Sigmar warband. About half my models have been painted up previously as Warrior Priests for my Empire army. The rest are running around wearing nothing but their undercoats. It's disgraceful, and I'm sure Sigmar is judging me and colluding with the dice gods against me as some sort of punishment. If I get around to fixing the situation, I'll provide an update here.

Progress has been slow on the hobby front in general. I have jumped around between a few different model projects, but in the end I managed to focus long enough to get another one of my wagon unit fillers done. It only took about a month longer than it should have. Well, maybe 2 months...

A unit filler for my Ostland Swordsman regiment. The wagon is a 3D print from Highlands Miniatures. I think the Swordsmen might be as well, but the arms are GW and the shields are old custom resin ones I've had kicking around for years, like the rest of the regiment.

Axemaster 2015 Aftermath - Part 4

This is the 4th and final part of my tournament report. You can find part 3 here.

Game 5
Stuart Murray, Warriors of Chaos

• Chaos Lord of Khorne on Manticore
• Throgg the Troll King
• Festus
• Exalted Hero of Nurgle on Daemon Steed with Battle Standard
• Mounted Sorcerer (Level 2, Lore of Metal)
• Sorcerer (Level 2, Lore of Slaanesh)
• 15 Chaos Warriors of Nurgle with Shields
• 15 Marauders of Slaanesh
• 5 Marauder Horsemen of Tzeentch
• Chimera

Comp Score: 3

My Mission: Control table quarters

It was game 5 and I would be playing someone else I had never played before. Stuart's army looked like something that had escaped a previous edition of Warhammer - a Chaos army laden with characters and with almost no models. Looking at it, my main hope was to knock off the units and hopefully minimize the damage the Chaos Lord could do (as he and his beast promised too much punch at high speed for me to handle).

Deployment

Axemaster 2015 Aftermath - Part 3

This is part 3 of my tournament report. You can find part 2 here.

Game 4
Mal Patel, Lizardmen

• Slann Mage Priest (Level 4, Lore of Metal)
• Saurus Old Blood
• Saurus Old Blood
• Saurus Scar Veteran with Battle Standard
• Skink Priest (Level 1, Lore of Heavens)
• 22 Saurus
• 22 Saurus
• 20 Skink Cohort
• 20 Skink Cohort
• 20 Skink Cohort
• 3 Razordons
• Bastiladon

Comp Score: 6

Mal's Lizardman army

My Mission: Capture the flag

Axemaster 2015 Aftermath - Part 2

This is part 2 of my tournament report. You can find part 1 here.

Game 2
Julian Jaksch, Goblins

• Skarsnik and Gobbla
• Night Goblin Great Shaman (Level 4, Little Waagh)
• Night Goblin Shaman (Level 2, Little Waagh)
• Night Goblin Big Boss with Battle Standard
• Night Goblin Big Boss
• 40 Night Goblins with Spears, Netters
• 35 Night Goblins with Spears, Netters
• 22 Night Goblins with Short Bows
• 20 Night Goblins with Short Bows
• Squig Herd with 21 Squigs, 7 Handlers
• Goblin Wolf Chariot
• Goblin Wolf Chariot
• Goblin Spear Chukka
• Goblin Spear Chukka
• Troll
• Pump Wagon with Spiky Roller, Exploding Spores
• Pump Wagon with Spiky Roller
• Doom Diver
• Rock Lobber with Bully
• Arachnarok

Comp Score: 6

Julian's very nicely painted Goblin army. The Colossal Squig was being used as an Arachnarok.

My Mission: Kill the general
Julian's Mission: Capture the flag

After an ignominious start, I joined Julian's all-goblin army down on the lower tables. I figured this was probably where my army belonged, so I wasn't too bothered being thrashed first up. Julian and I had never actually played before, despite attending many of the same events over the years. This promised to be fun.

Deployment

The Squignarok.

All those Fanatics are hiding somewhere in the list. Stupid closed lists. Julian's list actually had all the details on it, but I tried to ignore the things I wasn't meant to see.

The army's centre, with the Great Shaman in Skarsnik's unit and the BSB and Shaman in the unit to the left.

Yep, that's my whole army deployed right there. Everyone else was late.

Deployment started with Skarsnik delaying my troops with Squigs or donuts or something, resulting in each unit starting in reserve on the roll of a 6. Because I have great natural skill and a mastery of dice, this resulted in most of my army starting off the field. All 3 units of Orcs and my secondary Wyvern started in reserve, which meant my Great Shaman found himself deploying without a unit, trying to hide behind a building. 

What the hell, guys? Come on, we need you!

Oh well, at least I would get the +2 bonus to get the first turn (because of a better comp score and finishing deploying first - by about a week in this case). No wait, I lost the roll-off anyway. Julian took the first turn.

Axemaster 2015 Aftermath - Part 1

It is a strange phenomenon that as time has gone on and I have been less invested in actually winning my games, I have found that I remember fewer details of them. Back when I was younger and I played far more competitively, I could remember the entire game clearly. Nowadays it is all a bit of a vague blur. This report promises to be my least precise ever, as A: I really didn't care at all how I went; and B: we were playing with closed lists. As a result of the second part in particular, the army lists I provide here will be incomplete and probably slightly wrong. Keeps it interesting, right?

I basically chose my army by deciding I had painted 2 Arachnaroks and never used them, so set about rectifying that. I also jammed a couple of Wyverns in because they are flappy and stuff. The rest was boring vanilla Orcs because nobody likes or uses them (poor guys) and because I needed some fortitude for reasons that will become apparent from reading the player pack stuff below...

• Orc Warboss on Wyvern with Great Weapon; Shield, Armour of Fortune
• Orc Warboss on Wyvern with Great Weapon; Shield, Gambler's Armour
• Orc Great Shaman (Level 4, Big Waagh) with Dispel Scroll
• Black Orc Big Boss BSB on Boar with Heavy Armour and Dragonhelm
• Arachnarok
• Arachnarok
• 40 Orc Boyz with Shields, Full Command
• 25 Orc Boyz with Shields, Full Command
• 25 Orc Boyz with Shields, Full Command
• 6 Goblin Wolf Riders with Spears, Shields, Standard and Musician

The rough family shot I included in my previous post.

The tournament used the SCGT pack, which meant comp scores had no effect on the overall standings. Instead they were used to affect the roll-offs at the start of the game to determine each of the following:

• Deployment method (standard, Battle for the Pass, or diagonal)
• Table side/corner
• Setting up first
• First turn

Basically the higher comp score got a +1 modifier to each of those roll-offs, and if it was twice the score or more, it got a +2. Seems unlikely, right? Well as it turns out, I had the highest comp score in the event by a mile. I got a few +2 modifiers (and frequently lost the roll-offs anyway).

Results were determined by 5 different factors, with up to 20 points available between the 2 players:

• Win by 200+ VPs: 4 points (2 points each if result is a draw within 200 VPs)
• Achieve your secret mission: 4 points
• Deny your opponent's mission: 4 points
• Break your opponent's army (fortitude as per Blood and Glory): 4 points
• Prevent your own army from being broken: 4 points

So it was theoretically possible (however unlikely) that you could win the game and walk away with only 4 points. It's an interesting shake-up of the normal approach.

In terms of secret missions, you had to use each one once. The player with the lower comp score (ie every one of my opponents) had to reveal their mission before the game. The missions were:

• Kill the enemy general
• Kill more Special and Rare choices than you lose
• Control the most buildings at the end of the game
• Control the most hills at the end of the game
• Control the most table quarters at the end of the game
• Capture the most standards

Controlling things basically required non-fast cavalry units with fortitude. Hence the Orc blocks. Anyway, that's enough detail. If you want to go and read the player pack for yourself, you can always Google it. On with the show.

Game 1
Viv Gleeson, Undead Legion

• Mounted Vampire Lord (Level 4, Lore of Vampires)
• Mounted Vampire (Level 1, Lore of Shadow)
• Mounted Vampire (Level 1, Lore of Shadow)
• 40 Skeleton Warriors
• 16 Skeleton Archers with Standard and Musician
• 16 Skeleton Archers with Standard and Musician
• 9 Black Knights with Full Command
• 8 Black Knights with Full Command
• 6 Vargheists
• 5 Dire Wolves
• 5 Dire Wolves
• 5 Dire Wolves
• Screaming Skull Catapult
• Screaming Skull Catapult

Comp Score: 4

My Mission: Capture the buildings
Viv's Mission: Kill my general

Orc War Drum and Axemaster

I haven't really been able to focus upon any particular hobby thing recently. I've been largely crippled at home, recovering from knee surgery a couple of weeks ago. This gave me some time to paint, but even when I was trying to queue up models to work on, they ended up coming from 3 different armies. And then I hardly got to any of the things in the queue anyway. I guess I was just being optimistic.

My main achievement during my convalescence was padding out my horde of Handgunners with the unit filler, but since then I have also managed to plug a gap in my Orc army for Kings of War. One of the units that has no direct Warhammer equivalent is the War Drum. I decided it was useful, so I slapped together a couple of them and painted them up.

A couple of Orc War Drums, ready for action.

Axemaster 2014 – Part 6

This post is a continuation of my account of the recent tournament, Axemaster 2014. You can find the previous part of the report here.

Game 6

Ben Wadsworth, Warriors of Chaos

• Chaos Lord of Tzeentch on Disc of Tzeentch with Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command, Dragonhelm, Flaming Breath, Soul Feeder, Great Weapon, Shield
• Exalted Hero of Tzeentch BSB on Barded Daemonic Mount with Armour of Destiny, Scaled Skin, Great Weapon
• Chaos Sorcerer (Level 2, Lore of Tzeentch) with Chaos Familiar
• Chaos Sorcerer (Level 1, Lore of Metal) with Dispel Scroll
• 17 Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch with Full Command, Shields, Gleaming Pennant
• Chaos Chariot of Nurgle
• Chaos Chariot of Nurgle
• 5 Chaos Warhounds with Vanguard
• 5 Chaos Warhounds with Vanguard
• Chimera with Flaming Breath, Regenerating Flesh
• Chimera with Flaming Breath, Regenerating Flesh
• Hellcannon
• Giant

Comp Score: 2

After 2 big losses I felt like reality had reasserted itself and my place in the field had been corrected, so I hoped to do a little better in my last game. I've been wanting to play Mr Wadsworth (the man behind Shirts off Warhammer) for a while, and now I had my chance. Unfortunately when I looked at his list, I realised I might have some difficulty getting rid of some of his characters. Ah well, what was the worst that could happen?

Game 6 deployment

Axemaster 2014 – Part 5

This post is a continuation of my account of the recent tournament, Axemaster 2014. You can find the previous part of the report here.

Game 5

Simon Kwok, Empire

• Arch Lector on War Altar with Talisman of Preservation, Charmed Shield, Van Horstmann's Speculum, Great Weapon
• Wizard Lord (Level 4, Lore of Light)
• Captain BSB with Obsidian Lodestone, Full Plate Armour, Enchanted Shield (not really sure for this guy)
• Battle Wizard (Level 1, Lore of Light) with Dispel Scroll
• Battle Wizard (Level 1, Lore of Light)
• Witch Hunter with Brace of Pistols
• 40 Halberdiers with Full Command
• 30 Spearmen with Musician
• 30 Spearmen with Musician
• 10 Archers
• 4 Demigryphs with Standard, Musician
• 4 Demigryphs with Standard, Musician
• Celestial Hurricanum
• Steam Tank

Comp Score: 3

This was not a match-up that my army fancied at all. A double-Banishment "light council" backed by 2 cannons. It was precisely the sort of list that my Griffons wanted nothing to do with. And I couldn't even rush into combat for fear of what the Demigryphs and Steam Tank would do to my units. In conclusion, Simon's list was obviously better constructed than mine. I knew it would be a struggle, so just resolved to have some fun and get it over with...

Deployment. My second Griffon is almost in the picture on the left.

Axemaster 2014 – Part 4

This post is a continuation of my account of the recent tournament, Axemaster 2014. You can find the previous part of the report here.

I spent the start of Day 2 sending SMSes to friends to see if anyone could either assist me or play in my place for that day, as I had basically no voice. Given how noisy the tournament venue was, I was not at all convinced that my opponents would be able to hear me, and I figured this would only get worse with the strain. Unfortunately nobody was available, so I just had to try and tough it out. Hopefully I wouldn't be reduced to expressing my intentions through the power of interpretive dance before the day was out...

Game 4

Aaron Graham, High Elves

• Prince on Star Dragon with Talisman of Preservation, Star Lance, Charmed Shield, Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak
• Noble BSB on Barded Steed with Enchanted Shield, Dawnstone, Sword of Might, Heavy Armour
• Noble on Great Eagle with Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Lance
• Noble on Great Eagle with Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Lance
• Noble on Great Eagle with Heavy Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Lance
• 9 Silver Helms with Full Command
• 6 Silver Helms with Musician
• 6 Silver Helms with Musician
• 6 Silver Helms with Musician
• Tiranoc Chariot
• Tiranoc Chariot
• Great Eagle
• Great Eagle
• Frostheart Phoenix
• Frostheart Phoenix

Comp Score: 3 or 4

So coming into this game, I think there were maybe 3 of us all on about the same score at the head of the field. Given my list I figured that wouldn't be me, but you never know. To say that Aaron's list was fast is a bit of an understatement. 8 flying models and the rest of the army had Movement 9. This was going to make it difficult for me to control the terms of the game, but at least he had no magic whatsoever. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

Deployment.

Axemaster 2014 – Part 3

This post is a continuation of my account of the recent tournament, Axemaster 2014. You can find the previous part of the report here.

Game 3

Steve Tuck, Ogre Kingdoms

• Tyrant with Armour of Protection, Great Weapon
• Slaughtermaster (Level 4, Lore of the Great Maw) with Talisman of Preservation, Dispel Scroll
• Bruiser BSB with Armour of Silvered Steel, Great Weapon
• Butcher (Level 1, Lore of Beasts) with Hellheart
• 8 Ironguts with Full Command
• 9 Ogres with Full Command, Light Armour, Ironfists
• 10 Leadbelchers with Musician, Champion
• 10 Gnoblars
• 10 Gnoblars
• 1 Sabretusk
• 1 Sabretusk
• Ironblaster
• Ironblaster

Comp Score: 2

From an Ogre army with no Ironblasters to one with a pair of them, Steve's list represented much of what my Griffons had been hoping (admittedly optimistically) to avoid. This game was particularly notable as I think it contained the only roll-off I lost for the tournament (Steve won the roll-off to choose the deployment rules despite my +2 modifier, and went for Battle for the Pass).

So I'm completely done deploying, and he's put down what? Anything..?