Cancon 2024 Aftermath - Part 5

This is the final part of my report of a recent 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 5 - Finish The War
Adam Wonderley - Wood Elves

• Spellweaver (Level 3, Lore of Life) with Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, Dispel Scroll
• Spellsinger (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren) with Dispel Scroll
• Alter Kindred Noble with Great Weapon, Hail of Doom Arrow, Helm of the Hunt
• 12 Glade Guard
• 10 Glade Guard
• 10 Glade Guard
• 8 Dryads
• 8 Dryads
• 5 Glade Riders with Musician
• 5 Wardancers
• 3 Warhawk Riders
• 5 Wild Riders with Full Command
• Great Eagle
• Treeman

This felt like things coming full circle. When I used the forest spirit army at Cancon maybe 19 years ago, I played Adam with his Wood Elves. It was a draw. And here we were again, this time on the top table in the final round. We had a bit of an audience as a few people who knew us both pulled up chairs to watch the clash that might decide the fate of the tournament. I declared that whatever happened, this time it would not be a draw... The scenario was a normal battle - the bonus points were for standards and table quarters etc instead of them just being worth 100 victory points.

There was a river cutting the table in half, which is probably not ideal on the top table. It wouldn't matter so much for this match, with 2 armies loaded with skirmishers. It did mean having to commit to plans with units like the Treekin, though.

Cancon 2024 Aftermath - Part 4

This is the continuation of my report of a recent 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

After 3 wins, I was getting perilously close to the top of the tables. By this point however, I had realised that there was only one Daemonic Legion list in the entire tournament, and I was not going to have to play it (which was nice, because they were basically kryptonite to a forest spirit army). I don't know where all the daemons had gone, but maybe we could win this thing!

Game 4 - Steal Their Supplies
Kieran Pink - Bretonnians

• Bretonnian Lord on Warhorse with Gauntlet of the Duel, Gromril Great Helm, The Heartwood Lance, Virtue of the Joust, Shield, Grail Vow
• Damsel of the Lady (Level 1, Lore of Life) on Warhorse with Dispel Scroll
• Paladin Battle Standard Bearer on Warhorse with Banner of the Lady, Questing Vow
• 6 Knights Errant with Musician
• 6 Knights Errant with Musician
• 6 Knights of the Realm with Standard Bearer
• 5 Mounted Yeoman with Shields
• 5 Mounted Yeoman with Shields
• 3 Pegasus Knights with Musician
• 8 Questing Knights with Standard Bearer, Banner of Chalons
• 8 Grail Knights with Musician, Standard Bearer, War Banner
• Field Trebuchet

This scenario involved 2 objectives. One didn't move and needed to be controlled at the end of the game. The other was a little cart that could drive around each turn and could be captured and carried with you. Control of those objectives at the end of the game dictated the bonus points.

Bretonnians had the potential to be a problem for my army. My armour penetration was only so-so, Bretonnians can easily add a rank or two to my none, and they would generally out-charge me. The Grail Knights in particular could probably kill anything in my army, especially on the charge. On the bright side, a single Damsel with one dispel scroll is not a lot of anti-magic... This game was also notable for being the only time all tournament that one of my spellcasters rolled The Call of the Hunt (a movement spell).

How we setup. I decided to keep a small unit of Dryads in reserve, given there was a forest right in the middle of the Bretonnian deployment zone. If nothing else, I thought it might mess with my opponent.

Cancon 2024 Aftermath - Part 3

This is the continuation of my report of a recent 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 3 - Break Their Will
Kierin McPartland - Wood Elves (Drycha)

What the hell, another Drycha army? I admit, I didn't see that coming. This was going to be a really weird game...

• Drycha (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren)
• Branchwraith (Level 1, Lore of Athel Loren) with Annoyance of Netlings, Lamentation of Despairs
• 12 Dryads
• 11 Dryads
• 8 Dryads
• 8 Dryads
• 8 Wild Riders with Full Command, War Banner
• 5 Wild Riders with Standard, Musician, Banner of the Zenith
• 4 Treekin with Elder
• Treeman

Yeah, that's very similar to my own list - there's not really a lot of choice in an all-Forest Spirit army. The scenario was a variation of Blood and Glory from 8th edition - breaking your opponent was worth bonus points (the sooner you did it, the more it was worth), and the break point was based on characters and champions instead of banners.

Kierin painted up his army as a sort of "corrupted" version of the Forest Spirits, so we agreed that my Drycha was the good guy, and he was driving the baddies. That's the bigger unit of Wild Riders over to my left flank, behind the impassable ruins.

Cancon 2024 Aftermath - Part 2

This is the continuation of my report of a recent 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament. You can find the previous part here.

Game 2 - Reclaim Your Lands
Chris Penwarden - Vampire Counts

• Merneith High Warden of Nefreta, Castellan of Silver Peak
• Lahmian Vampire Lord (Extra level, Lore of Necromancy) with Innocence Lost, Crown of the Damned, Sword of Might, Spell Familiar
• Whats His Face
• Necromancer (Level 2, Lore of Necromancy) with Book of Arkhan
• Who Again
• Necromancer (Level 2, Lore of Necromancy) with Dispel Scroll, Black Periapt
• The Servants of the Upper Halls
• 20 Skeletons with Full Command, Light Armour and Shields
• The Servants of the Lower Halls
• 19 Skeletons with Full Command, Light Armour and Shields
• The Pets
• 5 Dire Wolves with Doom Wolf
• The Song Birds
• 1 Bat Swarm
• The Guardians of the Inner Sanctum
• 24 Grave Guard with Shields, Full Command, Banner of the Barrows
• The Miserable
• 1 Spirit Host
• The Drained
• 5 Black Knights with Barding, Hell Knight
• The Messengers of Darkness
• 3 Fell bats
• The Mother in Law
• Banshee

(Chris bothered to name his units, so it feels the least I could do to include their names... However mean some of them might be.)

This scenario was a slight twist on the 8th edition Dawn Attack, where you have to roll to see where your units deploy. In addition, the wide zones were 3 inches further onto the field, so you could get closer to your enemy if you so wished. Chris and I then proceeded to roll almost entirely "in the middle", so the scenario didn't really do much to us. The bonus points this time were for controlling the table quarters (and more of them than your opponent).

It's always pretty warm at Cancon, and it was so noisy that I was already feeling my voice struggle after a single game, so I deployed a bottle of water in my zone to try to give myself a tactical advantage.

Cancon 2024 Aftermath - Part 1

The Old World is upon us, although in some parts of the world we can't yet get our hands on the books. Nevertheless the local community is abuzz with the new rules and what the game is going to be like. This the was the rather strange backdrop for what may yet be my last ever 6th edition Warhammer fantasy tournament. Of course, I probably thought that 18 years ago when 7th edition arrived. Time moves in mysterious ways...

I initially submitted a Drycha list that included 2 Treemen. That's tough, but without a BSB to help them hold their ground, and a list with not a lot of other options, I had assumed it would be OK. The organisers disagreed however, and asked me to remove one of them. So then I found myself with a list containing more Treekin and Wild Riders than I expected. I was rather concerned about how it might hold up, given a lack of real spine. Dryads are very solid, but with no ranks or real bulk, the Dryads were meant to be my staying power. Oh well, trees are trees, right?

• Drycha (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren)
• Glamourweave Spellsinger (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren) on Elf Steed with Dispel Scroll
• 12 Dryads with Branch Nymph
• 12 Dryads with Branch Nymph
• 8 Dryads
• 8 Dryads
• 3 Treekin
• 3 Treekin
• 5 Wild Riders with Musician, Standard
• 5 Wild Riders with Musician, Standard
• Treeman

Full disclosure, I actually won Cancon maybe 19 years ago with a list a bit like this one - a Treeman Ancient instead of Drycha, no Wild Riders and even more Dryads. The army book was new and I was excited to finally be able to make an all-tree army. I didn't realise quite how tough the list would prove to be. I then won another tournament a few months later, which proved it was no fluke. I decided the army was clearly easy mode and retired it from events for a number of years. I went back to losing with things like Ogres and Orcs. As a result of all this, I knew the army would perform OK this time around. The list is a bit different with Drycha at the helm, but an army that's entirely immune to psychology was always a leg up in 6th edition - there's just so much less that can go wrong.

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 5

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

Game 5 - Battleline
Tim Jarman - Empire

• Marius Leitdorf, Elector Count of Averland with Full Plate Armour, Barded Steed, The Averland Runefang
• Battle Wizard (Level 2, Lore of Fire) with Dispel Scroll
• Warrior Priest with Additional Hand Weapon, Light Armour
• 20 Free Company Militia with Additional Hand Weapons, Champion
• 10 Handgunners
• 8 Inner Circle Knights with Full Plate Armour, Barding, Lance, Shield, Full Command
• 28 Spearmen with Light Armour, Spears, Shields, Full Command
• 3 Demigryph Knights with Full Plate Armour, Barding, Shields, Halberds
• 25 Flagellants with Flails, Champion
• Great Cannon
• 24 Greatswords with Great Weapons, Full Plate Armour, Full Command
• Mortar
• Helblaster Volley Gun
• Steam Tank

My final game would be against an Empire army that had managed a comp score of 10, so it should suggest a relatively even fight. Much of the threat from the list came from the Steam Tank and artillery, but I was sure it would be just fine...

Marius Leitdorf! He must be one of my favourite characters in Warhammer. A lunatic with a deadly blade who can receive tactical instructions from his horse...

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 4

This is part 4 of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 4 - Dawn Attack
Lachlan Hutchinson - High Elves

• Prince with Light Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Great Weapon, Blade of Leaping Gold, Talisman of Endurance
• Handmaiden of the Everqueen with Light Armour, Spear, Bow of Avelorn, Sword of Striking
• Mage (Level 2, Lore of Beasts)
• Mage (Level 2, High Magic)
• 30 Spearmen with Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
• 30 Spearmen with Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
• 20 Archers with Longbows, Musician
• 20 Archers with Longbows, Musician
• 25 White Lions of Chrace with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour, Lion Cloaks, Full Command
• 20 Sisters of Avelorn with Light Armour, Bows of Avelorn
• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
• Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower

Right, so first off, this is the strangest High Elf list I've ever seen. It must have been about a 7 for comp, but frankly it deserved more. The list put out a lot of shooting, but that was probably its main redeeming feature. It had none of the elements you'd normally expect to find, toughening up the combat potential of the army. The Prince lacked punch, the Mages had no items at all. The army had no BSB, cavalry, or monsters. It did feel like a proper citizen levy-based High Elf army. But it also felt under-powered, even against my 11 comp Wood Elves.

At this point I had lost 2 of my 3 games, although my battle points were not looking too bad because I'd managed to avoid big losses. I believe the match-ups were being done simply on wins and losses, so presumably Lachlan was also on a single win up until this point. 

Lachlan's army was an interesting mix of Citadel models and 3D prints that he had actually designed himself. The Spearmen and Archers (by far the bulk of his army) were all his doing. I was very impressed.

These Spearmen could do with some shields and paint, but they do look the part.

These ones look a bit more complete. The Bolt Thrower crew were also his digital handiwork.

The Archers were his doing too, although the Mage is a digital kitbash based on a Last Sword model.

It was Dawn Attack again, so we were rolling to see where our units went. Nothing too dramatic happened there. Lachlan ended up with a Spearmen unit by itself on the flank, and my Dryads were across from them (the Waywatchers appeared there later, when I couldn't find a good place to deploy them near the High Elf lines).

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 3

This is part 3 of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 3 - Blood and Glory
Chad Smith - Beastmen

• Beastlord with Great Weapon, Armour of Destiny
• Great Bray-Shaman (Level 4, Lore of Death) with Talisman of Preservation
• Wargor with Battle Standard, Heavy Armour, Shield, Gnarled Hide, Beast Banner
• Bray Shaman (Level 1, Lore of Shadow) with Herdstone Shard
• Bray Shaman (Level 1, Lore of Beasts) with Dispel Scroll
• 39 Gor Herd with 2 Hand Weapons, Full Command
• 20 Gor Herd with 2 Hand Weapons, Full Command
• 33 Bestigor Herd with Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Full Command, Standard of Discipline
• 10 Ungor Raiders
• 10 Ungor Raiders
• 10 Ungor Raiders
• Tuskgor Chariot
• Tuskgor Chariot
• Razorgor
• Razorgor
• 5 Harpies with Scout

Apparently Chad's comp score was -1, which I think was the worst I faced in the event. Beastmen unfortunately tend to be faced with the choice of either going hard with their list, or getting smashed. Chad had opted for the former approach. As it was being laid out opposite me, I wasn't feeling great about the chances of my squishy Wood Elf list...

The scenario was a variant of Blood and Glory, where breaking the enemy army didn't end the game - it just granted 600 bonus victory points. It still meant the deployment zones were closer together than normal, with dead zones on the flanks.

 

Chad had pretty much complete control of the deployment phase, with piles of low value units to place before he put down anything important. I put the Glade Guard on the hill, the Treekin and Lord behind a forest they could teleport from (if they got the chance), and did my best with the rest of the stuff without knowing exactly where the key enemy stuff was going to be.

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 2

This is part 2 of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the previous part here.

Game 2 - Dawn Attack
Harry Pearse - Dwarfs

• Lord on Shieldbearers with Gromril Armour, Great Weapon*, Shield, 2 Runes of Striking, Rune of Might, Rune of Iron, Rune of Preservation, Rune of Stone
• Runesmith with Gromril Armour, Shield, 2 Runes of Spellbreaking
• Thane with Battle Standard, Gromril Armour, Shield, Master Rune of Grugni
• Thane with Gromril Armour, Shield, Dwarf Pistol, Rune of Stone
• 50 Dwarf Warriors with Heavy Armour, Shields, Full Command
• 10 Thunderers 
• Cannon 
• Grudge Thrower with Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Penetrating
• Gyrocopter with Brimstone Gun
• 35 Hammerers with Heavy Armour, Shields, Great Weapons, Full Command
• 10 Miners with Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Champion
• Organ Gun with Rune of Accuracy

*When I first read through Harry's list, I assumed he'd decided that Strength 4 on his Lord was enough, provided that it would double against Toughness 5 or more. It turns out he'd missed the rule saying the great weapon counts as a hand weapon anyway because of the runes. In Harry's defence, it took several of us waaay too long to find the rule in the book that we all knew was there somewhere. I had actually given up and decided they must have dropped the rule in the latest book when someone finally spotted it right where we had all been looking. 

Honestly, against my list the great weapon probably didn't matter much anyway. The Lord was sitting happily in a unit of 35 Hammerers, along with every other character in the army. I guess it's what you would call a "traditionalist" Dwarf approach. Take every egg you can find, and stuff it in the Hammerer basket. Not the way I do things, but I'm a weirdo and not really a proper Dwarf player. When we went to KFC immediately before, Harry put his name is as Grombrindal up on the screen. I should really just defer to his superior Dwarf cred...

The scenario was Dawn Attack, which means you do have to nominate units for your characters before rolling to see where they all end up. I've been cruelled by this a couple of times, but this time the dice were merciful and my deployment more or less made sense.

That is certainly a unit. 

Bendigo Besieged Aftermath - Part 1

It's been a while since my last post. In actual fact, the last time I posted on the blog, I was recounting my experience at a 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament. Well I'm back again, ready to talk about another tournament I have attended - but this time it's for 8th edition! If this is confusing for you, rest assured that it confuses me too. I had to double-check so many rules to confirm whether I was in the right edition or not. Anyway...

Bendigo Besieged is into its 3rd year, having kicked off back when we were in the middle of COVID lockdowns and the general chaos around that. I wasn't able to make it as a result, and the next year it proved impossible as well. But this time I finally made it, and it was great to see people keen to play some games of 8th edition. There were 18 players, which is apparently a new record for them. But it was also the first 8th edition tournament I've actually played since the End Times blew everything up all those years ago, and also probably the first multi-day Warhammer tournament of any edition I've played since then, apart from Cancon (which barely counts, as it's part of a larger convention that gives it the pull it needs). Very frequently nowadays, it seems that people are unable or unwilling to commit to a 2 day event. They are very few and far between. It amazes me that this is actually my 4th Warhammer tournament this year. Before this year, I don't think I had played one of any edition since End Times, contenting myself with Kings of War as the old Fantasy community was scattered to the winds. 

When I committed to this tournament, I decided I wanted to use Wood Elves. I never really got to use the 8th edition Wood Elf book when it came out, because its arrival prompted every man and his dog to suddenly pull out their dust-covered army and bring them to events. I am not really keen on being part of the "problem", when it comes to one army being a craze that results in far too many of one army flooding a tournament. So I decided to sit back, wait out the storm, and use them when people had calmed down and moved on. Except then the Warhammer world ended and I never got the chance. So now, some 9 years later, this was finally my chance.

I had a few ground rules for myself, based on my reading of the army book and what I saw at events back in the day. I would not use Trueflight Arrows. They were a no-brainer choice that was absolutely everywhere in people's tournament lists. I wouldn't hate them so much if it wasn't for True Line of Sight, which basically ends up meaning nearly everything can see everything all the time. You can't hide from the, and they don't miss much. And they're relatively cheap. Very balanced. My other thing to avoid was Wild Riders, because they were also one of the key go-to options. They're not as broken as Trueflight Arrows, but they're the ultimate glass cannons and hit unreasonably hard. I wouldn't mind taking one unit of them, but they were indeed everywhere - so I decided to avoid them. 

Previous years of Bendigo Besieged had avoided a comp pack, but apparently that had seen some pretty tough stuff appearing. So instead they went the complete opposite approach, and brought in a vast swathe of criteria known as Highlander comp. This rewarded taking no duplicates in a list ("there can be only one", hence the Highlander reference), and tried to make known problems down whilst encouraging things perceived as softer, like a big unit of Empire Spearmen, not taking a proper mage, a dispel scroll, or a BSB. In fact I've never seen so many 8th ed armies without BSBs. An army's comp score could be as low as you liked, but it maxed out at +10 for a soft list. Naturally I promised myself I would get maximum comp by taking a compromised list. In the end, my score was actually an 11, in true Spinal Tap fashion. What's softer than soft? I am! I still only got 10 points, of course...

• Glade Lord on Great Stag with Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, Armour of Destiny, Shield, Spear
• Spellweaver (Level 4, High Magic) with Talisman of Preservation
• Glade Captain with Battle Standard, Hail of Doom Arrow, Great Weapon, Light Armour
• Branchwraith
• 20 Glade Guard with Standard, Musician, Swiftshiver Shafts (multi-shot arrows)
• 23 Dryads with Champion
• 4 Warhawks with Champion
• 8 Wardancers with Champion
• 6 Treekin with Champion
• Treeman
• 6 Waywatchers
• Great Eagle

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.

Cancon 2023 - Game 4

This is the final part of my report of the recent tournament at Cancon 2023. You can find the previous part here.

We came now to the last game of the event, with it being a very relaxed schedule of 4 games over 2 days. Somehow I was undefeated up until this point, but now I would be playing the only Skaven player in the field. I remember games against Skaven being pretty rough...

Game 4 - Pitched Battle

Alex Johnston - Skaven

I'll be honest, I can't for the life of me work out where Alex spent his points. He had one million units, and I had finished deploying, gone to the bathroom and had a nap before he placed anything meaningful down on his side of the table. It was a very unusual army, and felt like it had made a lot of concessions in order to be palatable to the TOs. Just the one Ratling Gun, only a sensible amount of Warp Lightning... It's entirely possible the army was hundreds of points underweight, really. Anyway, this is what I remember, can guess, or can see from the photos...

• Warlord with Weeping Blade, Bands of Power, Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield (probably - maybe he even had a hobo ward save)
• Chieftain with Battle Standard and not much else
• Warlock Engineer with Warp Energy Condenser, Supercharged Accumulator, Warp Blades, Storm Daemon, maybe a Dispel Scroll
• Warlock Engineer with Warp Energy Condenser, Supercharged Accumulator, Warp Blades, maybe a Dispel Scroll or two
• 20 Clanrats with Light Armour, Shields, Full Command, Ratling Gun
• 20 Clanrats with Light Armour, Shields, Full Command, Warpfire Thrower
• 20 Clanrats with Light Armour, Shields, Full Command, Warpfire Thrower
• 20 Skavenslaves
• 20 Skavenslaves
• 20 Skavenslaves
• 10 Night Runners
• 9 Night Runners
• Giant Rat Pack (6 rats and one packmaster)
• Giant Rat Pack (6 rats and one packmaster)
• Giant Rat Pack (6 rats and one packmaster)
• 6 Poison Wind Globadiers
• 2 Poison Wind Globadiers
• 2 Poison Wind Globadiers
• 5 Jezzails
• Warp-Lightning Cannon

Another table with no meaningful terrain, unfortunately. A river cutting the table apart, which was likely to be an impossible barrier for me to cross, but no trees and very little in the way of cover.

Cancon 2023 - Game 3

This is the third part of my report of the recent tournament at Cancon 2023. You can find the previous part here.

Two games down, and I hadn't even lost yet! This seemed like a pattern that was unlikely to continue, and here came a pair of Treemen to put a stop to my run... Dave had the only Wood Elf army in the field, which left me wishing that I'd followed through with my plan for using them instead of the Dwarfs (of which there were 5). Oh well. 

I was a bit surprised by the 2 Treemen, but the rest of the list wasn't as finely honed as it could have been, so I guess the TOs figured it was OK. I still remember getting 2 Treeman banned from Cancon in 6th edition. Ah, the good old days... Dave's list was also terrible for Blood and Glory. If I killed with the general (which was one of the Spellsingers, given the Highborn was Alter Kindred and not leadership material) or the BSB, the game would end that turn and I'd get 500 bonus victory points. I had plenty of banners, so didn't face the same dangers.

Anyway, on to glory! And blood. Always need some blood.

Game 3 - Blood and Glory

Dave Lewis - Wood Elves

• Alter Kindred Highborn with Great Weapon, Light Armour, Helm of the Hunt, Stone of Rebirth (maybe the Bow of Loren? Probably? He didn't use it, though)
• Spellsinger (Level 1) with Dispel Scroll
• Spellsinger (Level 1) with Dispel Scroll
• Noble with Battle Standard, Asyendi's Bane, Hail of Doom Arrow, Light Armour
• 10 Glade Guard
• 8 Dryads
• 8 Dryads
• 8 Dryads
• 5 Wild Riders
• 7 Wardancers
• 5 Wardancers
• Treeman
• Treeman

Another moonscape of a table. We used the crystals as another "forest", because otherwise the only one would have been the one Dave brought with him, which felt unsporting and a bit sad for Wood Elves.

Cancon 2023 - Game 2

This is the second part of my report of the recent tournament at Cancon 2023. You can find the first part here.

My first game had gone pretty well despite me making a few mistakes. Time to see what the second game would bring.

Game 2 - Get the Thingy!

Luke Littlewood - Vampire Counts

• Blood Dragon Vampire Count (Level 2, Necromancy) on Barded Nightmare with Full Plate Armour, Shield, Lance, Heart Piercing, Master Strike, Red Fury
• Blood Dragon Vampire Thrall with Battle Standard, Flayed Hauberk, (naughty great weapon)
• Blood Dragon Vampire Thrall with Sword of Battle, Cursed Shield of Mousillon, Heavy Armour
• Necromancer (Level 2, Necromancy)
• 19 Skeletons with Light Armour, Shield, Full Command
• 19 Skeletons with Light Armour, Shield, Full Command
• 6 Dire Wolves
• 6 Dire Wolves
• 5 Ghouls
• 5 Ghouls
• 9 Black Knights with Barding, Full Command, Banner of the Barrows
• 3 Spirit Hosts
• Banshee

Fighting undead on the mooooon!! (I'm not sure how we got here). This game awarded something like 400 victory points if you controlled that stone near the orange die at the end of the game.

Cancon 2023 - Game 1

Cancon is over for another year, and I have survived my first foray back into the depths of 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy. As usual, I distracted myself by taking photos during all of my games, so here we are with another series of battle reports.

Prior to the tournament, I played a total of 4 games of 6th edition to test out a few potential armies, and to get some handle on the rules again. One of those games was with Dwarfs, so I was confident of my complete mastery of the army when I decided to take it to the tournament.

Initially I had dismissed Dwarfs as an option, figuring that they would be a pretty static, depressing army to play. There's a reason why most Dwarf armies you see end up in a castle formation with plenty of ranged firepower - they don't have a lot of choice. But then I realised the Anvil of Doom was a viable option to help the Dwarfs pull off some charges of their own, and decided it was a good opportunity to use the one I painted in the Slow Grow last year. In the end, this was my list:

• Runelord on Anvil of Doom with Master Rune of Balance, Rune of Stone, Shield, Great Weapon
• Thane with Battle Standard, Master Rune of Gromril, Rune of Resistance, Rune of Cleaving
• Dragon Slayer with axes, wearing pants (so more than some Slayers)
• 10 Quarrellers with Great Weapons
• 10 Quarrellers with Great Weapons
• 10 Quarrellers with Great Weapons
• 18 Hammerers with Shields, Full Command, Rune of Courage
• 18 Ironbreakers with Full Command, Rune of Courage, Ancestor Rune
• 18 Miners with Full Command, Steam Drill
• Stone Thrower with Engineer, Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Penetrating

The list was based around the principle of a couple of "anvil" units capable of receiving a charge, and the Quarrellers with great weapons being ready to flank or counter-charge once things got close, probably with the assistance of the Anvil of Doom. The Miners were obviously also hoping for some help charging as soon as they appeared behind the enemy. So the Anvil had some work ahead of it, provided it didn't mess up its 2+ rolls.

I felt the amount of shooting was relatively modest for a Dwarf army - one piece of upgraded artillery, and 30 crossbows. The Anvil could lend a hand too, hitting and slowing a unit each turn until the charging became relevant. As it turned out, the TOs considered asking me to change the list due to the amount of shooting. They mainly thought it was a lot of crossbows, and to be fair, the entirety of my Core had been spent on them. I did try playing around with variations on the list, but they all felt like they made the army less functional, and honestly I didn't really expect 30 crossbows to do much damage against most opponents - I hoped it might be enough to deal with some light distractions, and mainly be enough of a threat to make people move forward and engage me. In the end they had given me the green light to stick with things as they were, so in the absence of anything I would be as happy with, I just went with it. I didn't expect the army to do especially well as it was, and didn't think my shooting would be enough to make anyone really miserable.

The tournament somehow managed to attract 50 players, which is an awful lot for a game that has been dead for 16 years. Every army except Chaos Dwarfs made an appearance, along with a number of variant Storm of Chaos and "back of the book" lists like Sylvanians, Errantry War and Blood Dragons. There were 5 Dwarf armies, which was the most with the exception of Vampire Counts (if you counted the variant lists). It was a pretty good mix, although it offended my hipster sensibilities to be using one of the most popular armies. Oh well.

The event was a very gentle 4 games spread over 2 days - a far cry from the old hectic Cancon marathon of 8 games over 3 days. It lent things a more relaxed vibe, although in all honesty I could have handled another game given it was all I had signed up to do when we were up in Canberra. But more games squeezed in probably would have made things feel more like serious business, and I don't think that was the goal. Nor am I convinced I really wanted that either.

Game 1 - Outflank

Angus Mackie - Dogs of War

• Mercenary General with Sword of Might, Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield
• Paymaster on Barded Steed with Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance
• Hireling Wizard (Level 2, Lore of Heavens) with 2 Dispel Scrolls
• Mercenary Captain on Pegasus with Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance
• 23 Pikemen with Heavy Armour, Full Command
• 9 Voland's Venators
• 11 Crossbowmen
• 5 Light Cavalry with Spears
• 5 Light Cavalry with Spears
• 8 Duellists
• 13 Long Drong's Slayer Pirates
• 3 Ogre Leadbelchers
• 2 Ogre Maneaters with Great Weapons
• Cannon
• Halfling Hot Pot

Angus' whole army was painted in fancy non-metal style. It was very nice.

The Cleansing of the Rear Passage (Part 2)

This is the second part of the battle report Cleansing of the Rear Passage. You can find the first part here.

Orc and Goblin Turn 3

The Orc advance continues, except over on the far left where the arguments are just getting worse...

The Cleansing of the Rear Passage (Part 1)

A Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition battle report with Tim Stewart

*****

"My queen, we are still having issues with the Rear Passage."

Queen Bellicosa stomped to a halt in front of the Ironbreaker as he gave his report. She was already clad in her ancestral armour. He favourite axe was slung casually over one shoulder. Behind her marched dozens of her best warriors.

"I know," she said matter-of-factly. "That is why I am here."

From around the far corner, a chorus of hooting and huffing announced the hurried arrival of a band of Slayers. At their head was a particularly muscular individual with a huge green crest of hair and an obvious lack of wits. Seeing the assembled Dwarfs in front of hum, he skidded abruptly to a halt, causing those behind him to collide in an undignified mess. Muffled curses and threats could be heard from the lower levels of the pile of orange hair, muscle and weapons. Their leader seemed not to hear or care.

"You're not going without us are you?" he demanded of the Queen. At least, that was what she thought he said. It was a little hard to understand him, given he had no teeth. Legend had it that he had crushed all the teeth from his head eating rocks on a dare.

Bellicosa simply shook her head. She had little time for Barri Stonechewer and his band of suicidal fools, but they might prove useful if they encountered something nasty during their expedition. The hold could not afford for this mission to go ill. Although the hold of Karak Nong's main gate emerged in the mountain passes high overhead, most traffic heading to the other nearby holds passed underground. 

With the rear passage blocked, life would soon become uncomfortable.

She hefted her axe and turned toward the gate. "The passage must be cleansed. Open the back door."

*****

Right, so it was my first time back at the games club in an entire year, thanks to a combination of COVID19 restrictions and common sense. Tim and I decided to play a game of Warhammer, and then I took enough photos that I figured I might as well turn it into a battle report.

Dork's Uninvited Green Guests (Tim)

• DW Dork Wildthrasher
  Black Orc Warboss with Battleaxe of the Last Waaagh, Heavy Armour, Shield
  263 points
• BSB Ruglub the Collector
  Black Orc Big Boss with Battle Standard, Heavy Armour, Dragonhelm, Ironcurse Icon, Talisman of Protection, Shield
  145 points
• W Wuzzup
  Orc Shaman (Level 2)
  100 points
• OBU 25 Orc Big'Uns
  Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
  260 points
• SO1 20 Savage Orcs
  Additional Hand Weapons, Full Command
  215 points
• SO2 20 Savage Orcs
  Additional Hand Weapons, Full Command
  215 points
• BO 20 Black Orcs
  Heavy Armour, Lots o Weapons, Full Command
  275 points
• T 5 Trolls
  175 points
• SH1 8 Squig Hoppers
  96 points
• SH2 8 Squig Hoppers
  96 points
• RT 8 River Trolls
  360 points
• MT Massive Troll
  Giant
  200 points
• Total: 2400 points

Knowing that we were going to be playing in the caves, Tim avoided fielding any artillery, chariots or cavalry. He also ended up not getting any  mangler squigs because he wanted to field lots of trolls. Especially once he saw that I had nearly finished a really big one that he could use as a giant. He also elected to generally avoid goblins, given the Gob-Off is yet to be resolved and that uses enough goblins for everyone...

His list is intentionally not too carefully tuned - we had agreed not to field anything like souped-up unkillable characters. The magic items were an afterthought, which means it's quite impressive that he managed to stuff a 100 point magic weapon on his mostly naked general...

Bellicosa's Dwarf Doormen (Me)

• QB Queen Bellicosa
  Dwarf Lord with Gromril Armour, 2 Runes of Fortitude, Rune of Stone, Great Weapon
  206 points
• SS Snuggi Softensson
  Dwarf Thane with Battle Standard, Gromril Armour, 2 Runes of Iron, Rune of Stone, Great Weapon
  146 points
• BS Barri Stonechewer
  Dragon Slayer
  70 points
• LB 20 Longbeards
  Heavy Armour, Shields, Great Weapons, Full Command
  330 points
• Q 16 Quarrellers
  Heavy Armour, Shields, Great Weapons, Dwarf Crossbows, Full Command
  270 points
• T 16 Thunderers
  Heavy Armour, Shields, Dwarf Handguns, Full Command
  238 points
• IB 20 Ironbreakers
  Gromril Armour, Shields, Full Command
  310 points
• ID 16 Irondrakes
  Forge-proven Gromril Armour, Drakguns, Full Command
  270 points
• S1 10 Slayers
  Array of Axes, 1 Giant Slayer
  132 points
• S2 10 Slayers
  Array of Axes, 1 Giant Slayer
  132 points
• M 12 Miners
  Heavy Armour, Great Weapons, Standard, Prospector
  140 points
• OG Organ Gun
  Rune of Forging, Rune of Burning
  150 points
• Total: 2394 points

For my part, I had decided to field a lord on foot (which you wouldn't normally do because shieldbreakers are a no-brainer). I went with blocks of 20 warriors and decent-sized units of missile troops, given they can fight in combat too. I did take a single war machine, but didn't make it too fancy with an engineer or anything. Just keeping it simple. I really need to paint up some more miners. I feel like an underground game should really have lots of them. Oh well, job for later.

Deployment

You'll have to forgive the map. I made it using an ancient Java applet that Pete managed to revive for planning cave maps. It does the job, I think... Hey, at least you got a map. You're spoilt, really.

Dwarf army photo

Right, so after the fight I had with trying to get a decent picture of my Empire, I found the Dwarfs a bit easier. Or maybe I have already just lowered my standards and stopped caring. Whatever. Either way it's a win, right?

So this is what I currently have ready to go for my Dwarf army. It translates to about 7000 points in 8th edition. There are number of incomplete elements that join the gang for games of Kings of War, like Elementals. I need to finish them. Anyway...

First a "sensible" picture that people might be able to look at without scrolling around...