Adepticon

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Toledo Inquisition
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Adepticon

#1 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Hi all,

I haven't been gaming for a year now (since last Adepticon) due to family and work issues, but I've solved some issues and was able to sneak in the last hour for signing up for the Adepticon Big Brawl (6000 points) and Championships (4500 points). I'm planning taking the High Elves to at least one of these events.

I had my first game yesterday with the new rules (and points!). I was definitely rusty. I had Empire, and my opponent (who has been playing continuously) had High Elves. I had a small win, but my dice rolling was somewhat better - my 500 point mage blew up on 3 dice in the 6th, versus his blowing up in the 3rd turn. :)

I had a fighting Marshall on Griffon, BSB on Pegasus, solo horse Thaum. Mage, bunch of knights, bunch of Demis, 20 crossbows, cannon, 5 Reiters, steamtank. I wanted to try out a bit of everything.

He had eagle, 2-5 man fast cavalry units, two big spear blocks, big block of White Lions (bad for Demi's), two Frosties, two Reapers, BSB on foot, 700 point mage on horse. My opponent is the likely ringer for Adepticon, so he knows what he is doing.

Thoughts on what I saw - Empire Cannons are now much worse in hitting things, especially with no Engineer. Demi's miss the 1+ AS. I misused the steam tank, but it looks pretty good. Griffon (a bit below 600 points) was better than a Frosty, which it should be.

For Elves, spears are much better with AP and Lethal Strike. A real place for them in the game now. White Lions love the big stuff!


My thoughts for the upcoming tournament:

I'll definitely be taking the Ancient Dragon and one Frosty (with the Ryma honor) for either scenario. Will take swordmasters also. Plenty of options, although I won't take bolt throwers with the honor restriction. Mine always miss also.

Magic can still turn the game around - my mage killed himself while using the variable strength magic missle to kill my opponent's Frosty. But my mages usually kill themselves.

I usually fail in shooting and casting, and make up for it in movement and combat, so I'm thinking of:


Big Brawl possible list:


Ancient Dragon
BSB (haven't decided on foot or horse)
Very cheap mage maybe (300 ish points) if there are points

Spears
2 Fast Cav
2 Core Knights for trash hunting
Would like to fit in regular archers if possible

Eagle
Swordmasters
Ryma Knights
White Lions

Frosty
Moonflight Archers


Like I said, I've got some reading to do first, but any thoughts on the units I've posted and how they've performed relative to their points for you?
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Re: Adepticon

#2 Post by Prince of Spires »

I always find it great to get a game in again after not playing for a long while. :) Congrats on the win. A lot probably changed between last time you played and now (especially in points values). So, a good achievement.
Toledo Inquisition wrote:I won't take bolt throwers with the honor restriction. Mine always miss also.
I know that feeling ;) My shooting in general always fails to do anything. With a few notable and memorable exceptions.

On your list, it looks good from a distance. Although the devil is always in the details. I would probably take the mage, if only for magic defence. It's some investment. But even stopping one extra (crucial) spell per turn / game can offer great returns for that investment.

Other point is that for your special selection I'm wondering if you'll be able to fit 3 full units of elites in there. The knights can get expensive fast and you'll want full units of SM and WL. But that's something you'll see soon enough when you start doing up the points.

Rod
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Re: Adepticon

#3 Post by Ktoos »

Hi... look, i am not a expert but i think that a BSB mage (Master of the craigng tower...) is the best fit for us and druidism is a good for us as well. I can se you fitting the 3 big unit on special but you shooting will be very poor. I probably your fast cav will suffer the first turn so i see you having problem in movement and shooting face... but... not a expert...
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Re: Adepticon

#4 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I appreciate it.

I was going up against the same player yesterday, and he is definitely the ringer for Adepticon...he is very good.

I received a three day list extension, so will have to turn it tomorrow


4500 points

He brought Wood Elves, all trees. Trying out his ringer list...wasn't exactly an easy list...

Treeman Ancient, 3 spells, Druidism, +1 cast/dispel book
2 Treemen (3 treesingings total)
5 Treekin, Hero
5 Treekin, BSB, S5 unit

So far, those are all stubborn.

4 units of dryads, 12 to 18 each.


I brought

Prince, Ancient Dragon, Ryma Honor, Giant Sword, MR2 trinket, Lucky Shield, +5 WS item vs. artillery
BSB, horse, dragon armor, lance, shield, 1 AS reroll, Crown of Scorn, Thunderous charge banner

25 Spears, FC, Flaming Banner
2 Elein Reaver units of 5, musician, bows
5 Silverhelms plain

Eagle
Frostie
8 Ryma Knights, FC, Strider Banner
20 Swordmasters, FC, +2 dispel banner

No magic, 10 bow shots! Against most armies, the plan would be to drop everything first, get first turn, see what happens in shooting/magic, charge turn 2. Nice and simple, just the way I like it. Keeps the pressure on high on my opponents.

Big loss, mostly because my Ancient Dragon had a sweet flank charge on a unit of dryads with Ryma knights in the front, with a 7" overrun into the flank of a tree man. The other tree man could have been next in line also!

Sadly my dragon couldn't roll a 13" charge distance (so no 6 on the best two of three dice). I got countercharged by a unit of dryads, and after I killed the unit champ, it kept being raised up. One round when going against rank and file, I rolled 6 or 7 "1's" to wound. Took me 6 turns to kill a unit of 12. [-X

It at least killed the treekin hero and champ, and also broke the unit of remaining 4 treekin at the end of the game. Only had undamaged dragon and a unit of fast cav left. I could have had the other fast cav alive, but used their bows to try and knock off the last wound from a treeman. Which failed and they got stranglerooted.

Didn't help when my Frostie needed a 4" flee to get away from trouble, and it rolled a 3". Sigh.

I lost 3100 victory points, and only picked up 1600. He also got the objectives.


In theory the S7 Ryma Knights hit like a brick, but against a smart opponent, will often wipe out a chump unit (dryads in my case) and then are in a bad countercharge position (two treemen in my case). I'll need to think on it more tonight, but I think the better option is to take White Lions, for the constant S6 and multiple wounds versus the big stuff. BSB on foot would go there.

The Ryma Knights had a very Bret feel (my other favorite army), while the White Lions will make people worry more for all situations.

Thinking of giving them the dispel banner, and giving the Thunderous Charge banner to the Swordmasters. S6 swordmasters would be nasty if they got the charge off!

I'll also get a unit champ for the Silverhelms, drop a musician from Elein's, to suck up challenges if the dragon wants to fight.


Ktoos, I was thinking of doing something like you suggested on my BSB with all druidic spells for the 6000 Big Brawl. Just not enough points for magic, units and an Ancient in 4500.
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Re: Adepticon

#5 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

My final lists:

4500

Prince, Ancient Dragon, Prince of Ryma Honor - Giant Sword, MR2 Talisman, Lucky Shield, Charm of Cursed Iron

Commander, BSB, Royal Huntsman Honor - Heavy Armor, Hardened Shield (so 2+ AS), 6+ WS Talisman, Crown of Scorn, Spear of Blazing Dawn (interested to see how this does for me)

5 Highborn Lancers, champ

5 Reavers, Bows, Musician

5 Reavers, Bows

25 Citizen Spears, FC, Flaming Standard

20 Swordmasters, FC, War Banner of Ryma

20 Lionguards, FC, Aether Icon

1 Eagle

1 Frost Phoenix

No magic.


6000

Prince, Ancient Dragon, Prince of Ryma Honor - Giant Sword, MR2 Talisman, Lucky Shield, Charm of Cursed Iron

Commander, BSB, Royal Huntsman Honor - Heavy Armor, Hardened Shield (so 2+ AS), 5+ WS Talisman, Spear of Blazing Dawn (interested to see how this does for me)

Commander, Master of Canreig Tower, 3 additional spells, all Druidism, Great Weapon, Dragonforged Armor

5 Highborn Lancers, champ
5 Highborn Lancers, champ

5 Reavers, Bows, Musician
5 Reavers, Bows, Musician

26 Citizen Spears, FC, War Standard

10 Citizen Archers

20 Swordmasters, FC, War Banner of Ryma

21 Lionguards, FC, Flaming Standard

1 Reaver Chariot

1 Eagle

2 Frost Phoenixes


I just couldn't squeeze in a third elite unit, even if I made the BSB also my Master of Canreig Tower caster, so I put in 100 points extra in core for a full scoring unit (the Archers). Wasn't able to cut enough for the Lion Chariot. No matter what I did, I couldn't find another 15 points to spare, so added a White Lion, Reaver Chariot, Spearman and Musician.


If I wanted to win, I would have taken Beastmen or Dwarves. I feel those books are noticeably better. No one understands how game changing bound spells are.
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Re: Adepticon

#6 Post by Prince of Spires »

Toledo Inquisition wrote:No matter what I did, I couldn't find another 15 points to spare,
That is a very familiar feeling ;) Points are always short. And at some point you have trimmed so much of everything that you run the risk of having sub-optimal units if you remove more.

The lists look fun. I'm curious to see how playing without magic goes. I've seen reports in the past of people trying it. And it can work if you bring a suitably fast and hard hitting list like yours.

For the 6000pts list I'm interested in why you brought 2 separate units of lancers instead of one bigger one. A little bit more punch, a bit more durability. Though you sacrifice some flexibility.

Rod
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Re: Adepticon

#7 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Prince of Spires wrote:
Toledo Inquisition wrote:No matter what I did, I couldn't find another 15 points to spare,
That is a very familiar feeling ;) Points are always short. And at some point you have trimmed so much of everything that you run the risk of having sub-optimal units if you remove more.

The lists look fun. I'm curious to see how playing without magic goes. I've seen reports in the past of people trying it. And it can work if you bring a suitably fast and hard hitting list like yours.

For the 6000pts list I'm interested in why you brought 2 separate units of lancers instead of one bigger one. A little bit more punch, a bit more durability. Though you sacrifice some flexibility.

Rod
A large unit of lancers (10-12) has never worked for me. I have found they are targeted as a supposed threat, and dissolve easily. Even if the aren't targeted, I've never had them do anything better than kill a chariot or support unit. Seriously, I've used a unit of 10+ (usually without character support) in over 30 games (in 8th also), and they have never done the job for me as a solo unit with no support. Maybe I'm inept, or unlucky, with them, but I have found a big unit of them worthless to me (unless I want them as bait). I keep trying and trying to get them to work for me, but I've had zero luck. Plus full command puts them at nearly 600 points, and that is a juicy target which easily gives up points.

With two small units, they are more disposable, flexible and valuable. In my game versus the Wood Elves, I was able to flank charge the Treeman Ancient caster, and I locked it in place for 3 combat rounds, which was huge (even though my charge dice failed me elsewhere). That unit of 5 can also hunt punk chaff units if needed. Putting the unit champ in there will help a lot with a combo charge with the Ancient Dragon to avoid challenges.
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Re: Adepticon

#8 Post by DLW »

Question about the dragon rider.

Is the charm of cursed iron gonna work?

I thought the only save you can ever have when riding a monster is the monsters own save
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Re: Adepticon

#9 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

DLW wrote:Question about the dragon rider.

Is the charm of cursed iron gonna work?

I thought the only save you can ever have when riding a monster is the monsters own save

The bearer and his unit get the 5+ WS vs. artillery. Same reason the 5+ WS vs. magic (MR2) is in there for me. I'd love to make the opponents reroll Ward Saves vs. my dragon, but in an all comers list, I need some protection for the big guy.

My plan is still to drop the entire army first, and go first and attack in the second round. :) Will depend on the opponent too, but against medium to heavy shooting, that is my goal!
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Re: Adepticon

#10 Post by Prince of Spires »

That makes great sense for why you bring 2 smaller units instead of one big one. Thanks for the explanation. I was mainly curious about them, since I normally run reavers and archers in core.

Rod
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Re: Adepticon

#11 Post by Ktoos »

Hi guys... i have a question...

Why drop everything first, you will lose the opportunity to choose the battles... or no?

I agree with you a big lancer unit don't work (At lease in my experience) a small one work much better. But what about Ambush sea guard, I know that are expensive but create a problem for you opponent in the deployment. What are you experience?
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Re: Adepticon

#12 Post by Giladis »

Toledo Inquisition wrote:A large unit of lancers (10-12) has never worked for me.
I have a completely different experience. For almost a year now a unit of 12 Lancers are my MvU. I give them +1M banner and send them off on one of the flanks. They are sufficiently swift to threaten flanks or rear of an enemy force from turn 2 onwards, and It usually takes much more points to get rid of them then they are worth.
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Re: Adepticon

#13 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Ktoos wrote:Hi guys... i have a question...

Why drop everything first, you will lose the opportunity to choose the battles... or no?

I agree with you a big lancer unit don't work (At lease in my experience) a small one work much better. But what about Ambush sea guard, I know that are expensive but create a problem for you opponent in the deployment. What are you experience?


The biggest problem with the ambushing Seaguard is that literally 50% of the time I forget to bring them in until the 3rd or 4th turn, especially in a tournament. Nothing more than that.

I'd rather have the Ancient Dragon in a suboptimal fight than getting shot at for another turn. When my Ancient dies, it is usually to shooting/magic versus being killed or broken in combat.
Giladis wrote:
I have a completely different experience. For almost a year now a unit of 12 Lancers are my MvU. I give them +1M banner and send them off on one of the flanks. They are sufficiently swift to threaten flanks or rear of an enemy force from turn 2 onwards, and It usually takes much more points to get rid of them then they are worth.
Usually I have one of four things in the far flanks for my games:

1) Dangerous Terrain
2) Absolutely nothing there (especially if I'm dropping the Lancers in one of my first drops), and the Lancers have no chance to contribute until the 3rd turn at least, usually the 4th. With the Ancient Dragon, I usually need their help a turn before that.
3) Diverters which will take them out of the game (especially with all the terrain I see in my games).
4) Something big and nasty which the Lancers can't handle.

They're taken out of the game too frequently in my experience - and when they lose 3 or 4 to shooting/magic, then they're a really expensive do little unit.

When I leave them closer to the middle, they don't have the punch to handle the melee in the middle that usually forms near the Ancient Dragon.
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Re: Adepticon

#14 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Prince of Spires wrote:That makes great sense for why you bring 2 smaller units instead of one big one. Thanks for the explanation. I was mainly curious about them, since I normally run reavers and archers in core.

Rod
I'm more of a movement and close combat guy than a shoot and magic 'em type, so everything relates to the combat phase for me. I don't think I'd do too well with an all Reavers/Archers core (plus I don't have enough models for that :)).
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Re: Adepticon

#15 Post by Prince of Spires »

Toledo Inquisition wrote: I'm more of a movement and close combat guy than a shoot and magic 'em type, so everything relates to the combat phase for me. I don't think I'd do too well with an all Reavers/Archers core (plus I don't have enough models for that ).
My reavers are there to stand in front of stuff and die while bravely keeping stuff away from my line. In other editions I used eagles. But with reavers in core they are used for this purpose. My archers usually do very little except stand around and try to shoot stuff with kiddy bows. They never impress me since they can't seem to wound whatever they hit. Still, I keep bringing them since I don't have any Silver helms put together.

Rod
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Re: Adepticon

#16 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Prince of Spires wrote: My reavers are there to stand in front of stuff and die while bravely keeping stuff away from my line. In other editions I used eagles. But with reavers in core they are used for this purpose. My archers usually do very little except stand around and try to shoot stuff with kiddy bows. They never impress me since they can't seem to wound whatever they hit. Still, I keep bringing them since I don't have any Silver helms put together.

Rod
Yes, my Reavers are there to get in the way of things, step on a Mangler Squig, etc. If lucky they'll be able to take out a warmachine. Plus I have a unit with a nice Plague Monk (?) flail conversion for a "swinging bell" musician conversion, which helps in the conversion painting score.

I'm not liking the Druidism mage right now, wishing I had another fighting unit instead. Looking back at Adepticon last year, I didn't take a mage in either list, and did just fine (albeit I had Warriors in one list). I've got a bad feeling the mage is not going to get the job done. I've promised myself I won't ever throw more than 3 dice at any spell - the chance for mage destruction is just too high. Only way I'll do it is if need a critical spell in the 6th and I still have all my mage wounds left and my mage won't be in combat.

Frosties are overcosted at this point, but I love the models. They really need to be S6 or T6, one or the either.

Getting ready for the big games starting tomorrow! Anyone else coming out? If so, introduce yourselves. I'll be the guy with all the monsters.
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Re: Adepticon

#17 Post by Prince of Spires »

Toledo Inquisition wrote: Plus I have a unit with a nice Plague Monk (?) flail conversion for a "swinging bell" musician conversion
Would love to see a picture :)

As for the mage, I think in your list his main role would be magical defence. And that is something you can forgo if the rest of your list is fast and aggressive enough. Which is pretty much the description of your list. Let us know how your list performs.
Toledo Inquisition wrote:I'll be the guy with all the monsters.
More pictures! :)

I won't be there. But would love to hear how you perform and how the event went.

Rod
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Re: Adepticon

#18 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Sorry, no working cell phone for pictures.


Played the Big Brawl yesterday. Only 12 of 14 people showed, but the competition was tough some of the country's best generals were there (plus a guy from Australia). If you follow the overall scene, you'd recognize some of the names...Jake M., Jeremy S., Justin B., Mike L. amongst others. Actually Jake M. is a local guy, and we've played 15-20 games over the years, and I've won at least 50% of the time versus him and I'm 1-0 vs. Jeremy S., so I don't feel outclassed (although I'm 0-2 or 0-3 vs. Justin B. in bad losses).

The weird thing is that in the second and third rounds, the #1 player played the #7 in the second round, 2/8, etc. Same pairing types in the third round, except 1 played 2. Don't think I like that, as people who do well should be paired versus each other in my opinion. In the GT for Saturday/Sunday, it will be played in the more traditional 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 for the last four rounds.

I had a math error - I had written down 40 points for the 5+ WS talisman, while it is 50. This was the first time I had ever done that in a tournament, as I use Excel to avoid mistakes. Felt stupid. Oh well, took the 6+ WS talisman and the one time triple march banner instead.


Game One - Mike L. (from Denver), Vampires.

I knew nothing about the army going in. I rarely played them in 8th, and not in 9th. I was rusty too.

Crushed like a bug in the rug. Lost horribly. Destroyed. Mauled. At the end of the game I had killed a 250ish point of the ethereal moving knights and the unit of 6 GW wielding ghosts with great swords. It was open list (which I HATE), but in a rushed setting, I didn't have time to read it much. We only played 5 rounds, but that didn't matter at all. At the end of the game, I lost everything except for the spears who were fighting a slow but surely fruitless battle vs. 50+ Skeletons with shields, and a unit of Reavers.

I was outgeneraled and out army knowledged both, (for example not knowing the Blood Knights have 2 wounds each, which turned out big), but it would not have mattered at all. I had a low chance of winning this match up. I'll try and find his list later, but he started out in a tight formation all in a square. Battleline type setup, with a river all the way across the board with two 6" bridges.

The main issues I had were 4 casters, with the Vampire general being a caster who was rerolling tons of things, like dice for winds of magic for a wound. They were all bunkered in a central unit. I had no way of dealing with him, his 3 buddies and 50+ skeletons in a bunker without killing everything else first. I was not able to stop his magic at all. Every round, he successfully cast at least two spells. I knew enough that my primary goal was to stop the 4+ Bound Spell which allowed him to raise a unit. Didn't need more trash in my way.

In the bottom of the first, I got too aggressive with the Ancient Dragon. I flew it up right to the river's edge, tempting his horde (I'm 90% sure he had 40) of Barrow Guard (?), S6 GW guys with +1 to hit banner. I didn't think he'd charge across the river (no ranks, etc.) but I intentionally challenged him. Terrible decision. He wasn't sure he should do it, but did. Yowsers. I challenged his BSB Guard character, who refused, but that was smart on his side. The general and ancient dragon killed 8 or so (breath weapon only rolled 3 hits), and then he swung away. In his magic phase, I stopped the reroll wounds spell, but he got off a reroll hits spell, plus they had lightning reflexes due to a war platform thing. He rolled above average (22 hits out of 22 attacks, 8 wounds with 6 no AS 6's), and the Ancient Dragon went down. The 100 mm base width is a terrible disadvantage - both for movement and combat positioning/charging, and for attacks back. I think math hammer would say he'd get 6 wounds. With my tempting ploy, I assumed he'd get 3-4, but with all the buffs and spells, his unit was a lot more dangerous.

After that, things got uglier. In the end, the Swordmasters and BSB made their stand on a bridge and got Malachi Crunched by Blood Knights in the rear, chariot that gets real good when it causes wounds and halberd wielding skeletons (60+) to the front. To show how poorly the game went, I was mentally thinking the skeletons had sword and shield (I swear I remember him saying that all his skeletons were sword and board), even though his skeletons were clearly modeled with halberds. The Swordmasters gave a great account of themselves, dealing 15 wounds, but they took 15 back and auto-broke from combat resolution. (I still think insane courage should be in the game!)

My dice were below average, but it wouldn't have mattered (for example it took 3 rounds for the White Lions to finish off the 6 skirmishing ghosts - I knew they had a 3+ WS, but there were only 6 of them). I had to bring in a Frosty to get magical attacks in the third round. I did use my chariot well to bait his big chariot (hoping for him to charge my chariot so that the Swordmasters would counter charge) but he didn't take the bait. His chariot didn't see combat until the Round 5 bridge battle.

I felt my army was thoroughly outclassed besides my own issues. The ONLY way I think I could have taken the horde of S6 GW guys would have been to hit them with Swordmasters and the Dragon at the same time.

Magic didn't do much for me, although I made the Swordmasters T5 in one round and have 4+ Regen in another, which made my opponent wary of charging them with Blood Knights.

I lost 20-0, and it was as bad as it sounded. I asked Mike L. if his army EVER losses to someone like mine, and he says hardly ever. Most people with an army like mine, play keep away. I could easily have saved most of my army (the flyers and at least one of the White Lions or Swordmasters, and the two foot characters) if I was willing to do that, but what fun is that?


More later.
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Re: Adepticon

#19 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Game 2 - Matt from New Orleans, Orcs and Goblins

A no war machine, no fanatics list. He brought a ton of fighting (Gargantula Spider, two giants, block of 10 trolls, blocks of orcs) plus 6 characters (Orc king with two crowns, BSB on chariot, mage with three spells on chariot, three mounted heroes), Squig hoppers (they are flying now? Whatever the flying S5 two attacks guys are, two units), two 50 blocks of shooting archer goblins, four chariots.

I was thrilled to see a fighty list, with no 10 point warmachines (or close). I respect a non-net list. Sadly, there are two of my least favorite combat forces ever to face with my standard HE list. Worst are trolls - I don't have good options. You'll see. Plus Giants are nasty for my big guys.

It was one of those games where I couldn't do much right, just because of dice. I got the fight I wanted, White Lions with flaming versus the trolls, but it didn't do so well. I put my BSB in the Lions to make sure they were always stubborn.

I set it up perfectly, trolls would have to charge the White Lions, and the giants and Gargantula weren't able to charge at the same time (although one chariot would). In the counterphase, the Ancient dragon would then be able to countercharge. White Lions did two wounds to the chariot and 9 or so to the trolls, who fought back with a fury! I lost about 14 Lions (I hoped he was going to puke, but he didn't), but they held.

Next round, the Ancient came in to finish off the trolls. Well, the Ancient significantly underperformed (I rolled a 3 for the number of breath weapon shots, and whiffed on all of them). The White Lions did wounds, but were mostly dead, BSB and maybe two Lions left, but I won by a lot. He had exactly 11 wounds left in the front rank. He said "Well, I autobreak." I was honest and said he was steadfast, as the dragon was flying and a light troop. He thanked me for my honesty, and said he thought he was toast. He reformed to a 2x2 square.

Next turn, he charged a blanky, blank hero with a lance and 5+WS on a giant squig into my ANCIENT DRAGON. The combined 10 strength 10 attacks from me....did zero wounds. He wiped out the last three wounds from my infantry, and I lost by 1. Ancient Dragon BROKE from combat, I rolled a 4 to flee, and was caught by a blanky, blank goblin hero with a lance on a giant squig. SIGH. HUGE SIGH.

It just got better from there. Later I had a flank charge on a Giant with one wound left with a healthy Frosty. In two rounds of combat, Frosty did zero wounds, broke from combat, and rolled a 5 to flee. Caught by Giant.

The only unit that did anything were the Swordmasters! They rocked. They angled themselves to charge the last 11 wounds off the trolls from the rear, who decided to try and flee to get away from certain pain! They rolled huge (11) to go off the board. Instead my Swordmasters charged the side of the Gargantula spider! The Mage was S7 with the charge and three attacks, and the rest of the crew was S6. I made most of my hits, but wounded poorly, and did exactly 8 wounds to put the beast down! Then in the next round, they charged a Giant that had taken one wound so far, and put that beast down! Then in the bottom of the sixth, they got a charge off on his mage in a chariot. S6 Baby! Then 16 attacks, and 8 wounds...or so I thought. For some reason (a spell attribute he said), I couldn't wound on less than a 5...so only 3 wounds, not 8. One wound went past the ward or armor, and he stuck on a 5. Missed it on his first attempt, but the reroll got it for him. Swordmasters basically got almost all my points - trolls, Gargantula, Giant.

The rest of the army was a Giant failure. The two small lancer units couldn't put up enough damage to beat up 6 squig hoppers or whatever they are. I'm tempted to go back to a unit of 10 - they are at least perceived to be a threat.

Magic was a failure for me. Other than Oaken Throne, I cast one other spell all game.

I lost 15-5, and 18-2 after objectives. After two games, I had scored TWO points.

Ancient Dragon has been a failure so far.
Toledo Inquisition
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Re: Adepticon

#20 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Looking back at the first game in hindsight, my dice were average. One unit of lancers held off the ethereal moving knights for two turns when they shouldn't have. It was only the failures of the White Lions which really stood out. So average dice, but a total rear kicking. Game two probably would have been a tie with better dice, and we would have split the objectives.


Between games, I had a talk with my army to see what was up with them! I decided enough of this garbage "Ancient Dragon" stuff - my dragon was given back his true name! Back comes the STAR Dragon. Will it be enough?


Game 3: Dennis G. with his Steampunk Themed Warriors (mostly pestilence)

Dennis is a local guy in the Chicago burbs and we have played against each other 20+ times, including once each in the last four Adepticons. He is extremely nice, and he and his wife Lauren G. are master modelers and builders and painters. Dennis has one of the most original scratch built armies out there, with insane amount of detail. Steampunk Warriors - closer to 1000 hours than 100 to build it. Dennis has painted many of my army units; and I knew we'd have a fun game. I've faced his basic army many times. Check out Dennis G. of Twisted Troop and Steampunk Warriors - I'm guessing there are photos of his beautiful army.

Demon Prince, Wings, Charmed Shield, 4 Thaumatology Spells, 4+ WS. Loves to drop comets and pick off characters with the D6 roll off spell.

BSB, pestilence, monstrous beast - don't remember what else, it didn't see combat - in a unit with 8 trolls

18 Pestilence GW Warriors
24 Lust GW Warriors, +1 speed banner
10 Lust Flail Horse Fast Cav
2 Units of 5 Dogs
5 Pestilence Knights, magical swords
Giant
2 Mauler Chariots

Dennis went first vanguarded one dog unit, and moved them right in front of my Swordmasters and Lions (enough to pin them in the first between a building), so that I had to charge both units to move 1". I knew what was coming, but my dice couldn't stop the comet. The comet was dropped 2" in front of both of my combat units. After killing the dogs, the comet still didn't come down. I triple marched the White Lions over a building (stupid rule IMO) to get out of town, but the Swordmasters were screwed.

When Lauren G. came in the fifth turn to check up on her husband and asked Dennis how it was going, he said "I've never seen (Toledo Inquisition) have such bad dice."

Actually, I think it was closer to him having crazy insane dice than me having poor ones.

For example, a Frosty was in a slap fight with 4 Pestilence Knights. I positioned my White Lions and BSB to accept a charge the following turn from the 18 GW Pestilence Warriors. I knew they could hold one turn (BSB was on edge and would only have to survive 3 attacks at most). Knowing this I figured the SD (the Star Dragon is back!) could help out the Frosty, kill off the knights, reform and counter support charge the next turn. The general and SD dealt 6 S7 wounds to the knights, and he made all six of his 5+ Armor Saves. Second turn of that combat was more of the same! The SD and General finally wiped those punks out in the third round of combat.

Because of those crazy armor saves, the SD couldn't support the White Lions and BSB until one additional round (bottom of the fourth), which would lead me to losing 1000 points which should have been saved (Dennis also brought in a Mauler Chariot to their rear when I was stuck in combat).

Spears were pretty darn solid. They took off three wounds from the Giant, while also getting charged by a Mauler Chariot. The Giant lost its last two wounds to a comet, but the spearmen lost a bunch too. Chariot eventually finished them off. But a darn fine showing for the spearmen.

The Swordmasters had to protect an entire flank (Trolls, BSB, 24 GW Lust Warriors, Demon Prince) due to terrain and me not having support due to the two comets in area. He didn't want to get too close, and we were both waiting for my Swordmasters to blow up. In the only bad dice rolling he had all game, Dennis rolled a S2 comet! Only three Swordmasters died!

Somewhere he cast the pick off spell on my mage. Dennis rolled a 5 and I rolled a 1. I only had a 6+ WS. Dead mage. Only successful spell was the raise spell to raise the 3 dead Swordmasters. Double sixes on two dice - and the miscast killed the three resurrected Swordmasters plus one more. Sigh.

In a following turn, the Swordmasters were able to charge a Mauler Chariot, which fled a lot from them. The I used Reavers to try and chase the chariot off the board. It fled enough to get away from the Reavers, but stayed on the board by 1.5" before rallying. Sigh.

The Swordmasters were screwed - since I had to move everything to my left side to avoid two comets except the archers, one unit of lancers and the Swordmasters versus a lot of his army, I knew I was in trouble. He tried a long range charge with the Demon Prince, which I took but then he added in the trolls. I knew without the flaming banner, the Swordmasters wouldn't be able to take the BSB and 8 trolls. I had a slightly less than average flee roll, but was out of the Demon's range (who still managed to roll box cars!). I would have left side support coming the next turn if I could rally and I would be safe...unless the trolls rolled a 10+ on two dice to catch me this turn.

He rolled a 10. Sigh. Oh well.

Back to the SD. After finishing off the knights and their 10 5+ made armor saves, I reformed and charged the Mauler Chariot in the back of the White Lions. Prince and SD took out the Mauler Chariot, but was drawn out of combat then. In the next rounds, the BSB and single White Lion died to 11 remaining GW Pestilence Warriors. But then in the 5th, the SD and a Frosty charged the Warriors. Nice! Killed them to man after stomps! SD on a roll - Knights, Mauler Chariot, GW Warriors!

Dennis was using a lot of dice on his spells (3 or 4), plus he had to add one. He miscast 3 or 4 times, including in both the 5th and 6th rounds. In round 5, he got the full 20! Did he forget comet? Nope. Did he take the half wounds, rounding up to 3? Nope. Did he get sucked into the void? Nope. He took one wound from the first part of miscast. Reavers picked off one wound in three rounds of dodging his forces. In the 6th, he miscast again, a 16. Did he lose half starting wounds to die? Nope.


In the end, he backed off everything in the 6th so the SD wouldn't charge. The BSB on the demonic mount was solo by that time, and I tried a max range charge, needing a 12. Didn't get it. Game over.


A very fun game. My dice were average, but darn, his were smoking when it counted. I'm not talking about GW Warriors rolling 4 1's out of 11 hits to kill archers, but when it mattered.

I lost 14-6, losing by 1900 points. If he had just rolled average or even slightly better that one turn with the knights, I would have saved 1200+ points right there by rescuing the White Lions and BSB. Sigh. I think I would have won that game by a fair amoun if our dice were even. I think we both played well though. I didn't regret any of my moves except one move with Lancers which got them caught one turn earlier than they should have. But you would have had to see those knights make armor saves to have believed it. 10 5+ AS saves out of 10. Plus his Demon Prince avoiding any bad effects.

Dennis won 17-3 after objectives.


To summarize:

Game One - super strong list to face, and I was outgeneraled. I had average dice, so did he.
Game Two - I think it would have been a push but I rolled like crud.
Game Three - I think we both played well, but I think I would have won if his dice weren't insane.

I came in dead last. A big turn around for me. Last year at Adepticon, I went 6-1-1. Sigh. But I still had fun.

Positives - I had fun, and the STAR Dragon is back! In game three, it took out 1500+ points almost by itself!


I try to be gracious winning or losing, and I must have done a good job, as I received best Sportsmanship and a cool box of three models from a company I'm not familiar with, and one of them will make an awesome White Lion champ or hero. I think my honesty in game 2 paid off with the Trolls, as that would have swung the outcome a lot. But as I say, the three rules are:

Have Fun, then no broken models, and third (in order of importance), win. No fun in cheating - and in this case it got me best sportsmanship and cool models.
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Re: Adepticon

#21 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Okay, I finished the 4500 point Grand Tournament. I won't go into as much detail, as I'm leaving for vacation in the morning and need to pack!


Game 1 - Jeff (from Calgary or Edmonton I think in Canada). He brought a fighty Orcs list - a total of 3 orc characters (fighty) and two goblins ones mounted. Two giants, block of 20 orc archers, block of about 30 of the better orcs, about 25-30 of the Iron (Black) orcs, pump wagon, two mangler squiqs, a unit of the flying goofballs, one rock lobber, and a chariot. The black orcs had the banner of no magic items in that unit or touching. No magic.

There was a river midway across the entire board with two 6" bridges. Objective was to control bridges with scoring units. The positive was that in the first turn, his rock lobber misfired and couldn't fire again the rest of the game. Excellent.

It was mostly a game of the small units fighting (goblin hero on mount, pump wagon, flying guys, Reavers, Lancers, etc.) with the big stuff maneuvering to try and get in good position. Neither of us risked long range charges. Positive for me was a unit of Reavers moving onto both Manglers at the same time. Sad times for me was when I let a basically unarmed trash goblin on a wolf (with a wound on him) charge the back of my lancers - figured 7 attacks back could do one wound. Naturally that didn't happen and they got run down.

The Star Dragon on my left side was playing a maneuver game with both of his giants, who were taking good counter charge angles. I was bringing in the Frosty from my right side to help out, but it took time getting in good position. Finally I had a good setup after my top of the fifth to trap his giants with a Star Dragon/Frosty giant attack with an easy overrun into the second giant. I also had spears to help out with their flank to the side of the Iron Orcs, who I had to block with the other unit of Reavers. The Iron Orcs WAAARRGGHHED, charged the Reavers, killed them and needed a long 11" overrun to reach the flank of the spears. They got it.

I still had a chance - I charged the Star Dragon into the front of the Giant, Frosty into the side and the Eagle (just to make the spacing work). No problem to kill the Giant with 11 S7, 5 S5, 2 S5, all better WS attacks to take out the Giant, right? I even had a breath weapon if it got cruddy, right? General did a wound, Frosty did a wound, and I was getting scared! I used the breath weapon - 3 hits, 1 wound, which was Ward saved. Star Dragon did one wound. Giant only took 3 wounds. Oh boy....Giant attacked Frosty, who took a wound and couldn't fight the next round.

In the other combat (done last so that my biggies could overrun into the second Giant), spears got wiped out in one round of combat in the top of the 6th, and then the Iron, no magic orcs, 14" or 15" away, charged into my Star Dragon in the bottom of the 6th. His flying guys charged the front of my Star Dragon, and the other giant charged into the other side of the Frosty. Iron Orcs were also touching the Frosty. So it was looking UGLY! Star Dragon was touching a Giant and flyers to the front, 30ish Iron Orcs to the side, with two Giants touching the Frosty, at least one Giant touching the eagle, and something else was touching the eagle! Not good at all!

Then the Star Dragon and General started kicking behind! The General, only S4 now because of the no magic banner, went first and put 3 wounds on the Giant and the Giant didn't make any Ward saves! One Giant dead. Star Dragon fought back with the Black Orcs, who were all swinging away with Great Weapons, and killed 5 with regular attacks. The Frosty and Eagle didn't die I don't think. Then the Star Dragon (after taking maybe one or two wounds at most), stomped 6 orcs to mush! The General and Dragon did 14 wounds, with no S7 Giant Blade and no breath weapon! That many wounds nullified all his charges and banners! I think I lost by one at the most, but it was super close! Everybody stuck, and game over.

We split the objectives, and it was a 10-10. From my Star Dragon and Frosty whiffing, which would have set me up for a 12-8 victory or so if dice were normal, to almost a sure defeat, to the 14 wounds of the General and SD, it was epic.
Toledo Inquisition
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Re: Adepticon

#22 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Game 2 - my buddy Dennis G. again! Same army, just less a Mauler Chariot, the Giant, the Knights and the fast cavalry. Three huge blocks, two units of hounds, BSB, Demon Prince and one Mauler Chariot.

A very tactical game - there was almost no combat, just positioning for charges and countercharges, while I was dodging comets again. The Star Dragon and Frosty were working themselves around a building to get at the 18 Nurgle Warriors with great weapons, while my Swordmasters were taking one to two breath weapon spell or magic missle Thaumatology spells a turn, dropping their numbers. The White Lions were dodging a combo Lust GW unit and the Trolls, as the Spears wouldn't be much help there. Eventually the Star Dragon and Frosty charged the Nurgle Warriors, who fled and were caught. In doing that, the flank of the Frosty was open to a countercharge by the Demon Prince, with an overrun into the SD.

The Frosty had a few wounds on it, and the Demon Prince did three more. The SD didn't panic, and Dennis had a choice to overrun into the Star Dragon. Dennis didn't think he could take the healthy Star Dragon with his S7 (Sword of Might) Demon Prince. Instead he tried to magic the Swordmasters to death, as they were trying to get out of Dodge.

In the bottom of the fifth, I moved my White Lions into the center of the board, with their flank exposed on the same side to the trolls and Nurgle warriors, with the other side exposed to the Demon Prince. He didn't have any unit champs, so I was trying to lure him into a trap. The GW Warriors and trolls wouldn't have enough attacks to kill off the White Lions, whose champ would have challenged the Demon if it flank charged from the other side. The BSB was with the Lions, and they would have been stubborn on a rerollable 10. Dennis decided against charging, as he saw that I was laying a trap with the Star Dragon in position to counter charge in the bottom of the 6th. Instead he tried to magic the Swordmasters to 25% strength and moved his trolls to get an objective (literally by .25"). So the trolls and Warriors each had an objective, as did my lancers. The Swordmasters were still at 7 left, I stopped his last magic missle spell.

It was a well played, low scoring game. I took 900 points off him (Warriors, dogs) and he got a Frosty and one unit of Reavers or eagle off me; I won by 300 points for 11-9 in regular points, but that switched to a 8-12 loss after objectives. It was as tight as it sounded.

Magic really hurt me this game; he was getting away 1-2 spells a round, mostly killing Swordmasters.
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Re: Adepticon

#23 Post by Prince of Spires »

Sounds like there were some great games in there. A shame for the adepticon losses. In general dice average out. But it matters when the extreme rolls happen. Indeed, there is little harm in having a towel-slapping contest with a unit of archers for a turn. but getting your star dragon stuck in combat for a few rounds when normally he would go through it in one can really hurt. It's hard to plan for something like that. Still, sounds like you had fun. And congrats on the best sportsmanship award. When the dice betray you it's hard to stay gracious and honest. And you seem to have managed it greatly.

Do you have a link to pictures of Dennis G's army? It sounds like something I'd love to see. :)

All in all, thanks for sharing your stories.

Rod
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
PS: Bring cookies!

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Toledo Inquisition
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Re: Adepticon

#24 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Rod, thanks for the input and kind words.

I don't think Dennis would mind, because he has some painting tutorials in "The Magnificent Bastards" and his name is out there on the web. His name is Dennis GuniX, with the X standing for the first letter of the alphabet. I'll let you fill it in, just so that his name doesn't pop up in a random forum if there is an internet search. Type in his name, with Warhammer steampunk Warriors, and you'll come across a few photos on sites. I don't have a link to great photos by the way.

Looking back against the Orcs, the 14 wounds caused by the Star Dragon did win me the combat by 1 or 2, but he stuck! Wow.

We had a good number of players - I think it was 46 to start with, but a few dropped out, including one guy in the middle of game one, because he was drunk. Stupid.

Game 3

John from Aurora, about 40 miles from my home. I've seen him at tournaments, but never had played him. A longtime Chaos Dwarf player, now playing Dark Elves. He has won some awards.

His list:

General with +3S Great Weapon, double wounds on foot
Lord on Manticore (Monstrous Beast) with 6 attack sword, medium defense
Alchemy Mage with two spells
No BSB

15-20 Corsairs with handbows (mage went in here)
2-5 man core fast cav
15 Spearmen
15 or so Repeating Crossbow men
5 Shades

9 Cold One Knights
Kraken
Repeating Bolt thrower
5 Fast cav with the two spells (Warlocks)


This was the Attacker/Defender Scenario, with me being the attacker. I had the Star Dragon and Frosty on my far left (out of range from the Bolt Thrower), hoping to hit his army from the side. My infantry was in the middle, and on the far right were the lancers, eagle and one fast cav. A big building divided my right side from my infantry. It was almost two separate games, with the Corsairs and Bolt Thrower opposite my right side. Opposite my monsters were Shades and the Kraken. My Swordmasters started max range forward (only 9" in this scenario) in some woods for shooting protection.

He vanguarded his fast cav, got first turn, and moved everything up to rain shots down on me. Not too much happened to harm me, I lost a few guys from a lot of units.

Bottom of the first, I think I surprised him. All my infantry charged his fast cav units from 14" out, and the Lancers charged the Corsairs with the mage. He fled with everything. Standard procedures with the three fast cav units, but he had too much respect for 5 Lancers. My only guess is that he thought I would have a good chance of taking out his mage (which in honesty would have been my goal). Big stuff on my left moved up hard, still out of range of the Kraken.

He moved up his middle hard hitters (Manticore, Spears with General, Cold One Knights). Everyone rallied. A game of positioning for 1.5 more turns. Bottom of three, my Swordmasters charged his generals unit. I charged few other things. I was doing things in a specific order, and my last charge was to be the Lancers at the back end of the Warlocks (who had 3 in the front rank, two in the back to fit in between the building and me.) There was another charge by something, I forget what. In the dust up, I forgot to charge the Warlocks, which was one my one for sure mistake in the game, with one other questionable one later. The White Lions moved to block the Cold One Knights and the Spears to face the Manticore Lord.

As opposed to the first two games, which were more limited in combat, this one got real bloody. In the General/Spear vs. Swordmasters fight, his General killed 4 Swordmasters, but then the Swordmasters swung back and killed all but 3 spears. He need a 2 to stick, but didn't get it, and fled. I would have loved to reform to help out my other blocks, but had to pursue and get all those points. I caught him, but the Swordmasters were then in front of crossbows.

In his turn, the Mantcore Lord charged the spearmen, and Cold Ones the Lion Guard, which are what I had set up for. Sadly, since I forgot to charge the Lancers, his Warlocks charged the side of the Lion Guard, which really hurt. In combat, the spears probably had 16 to 18 hits on the Manicore Lord, but I only rolled one 6. Manticore Lord chewed up the spears, but they stuck. In the Cold One/Warlock/Lions fight, the White Lions only killed three Cold Ones, because he kept getting off the +1 AS spell. Between the attacks from the Cold Ones, the Knights and the Warlocks, I lost about 14 White Lions, but they were stubborn.

In the following turns, he tried to protect his back of Cold Ones with a unit of fast cavalry, but I charged the Star Dragon into them, wiped them out, and overran into the Cold One Knights. It took two turns, but the Star Dragon eventually killed all the remaining 6 Cold Ones. Because it took two turns, I lost all the Lions and my BSB.

In the spears combat, I used up my champ in a challenge. In the next turn, the Kraken charged in too. I still couldn't get that elusive 6 to wound the Manticore and bypass the armor. The monsters wiped out the Spears to a man. His crossbows shot up the Swordmasters for a round.

In my turn, the Swordmasters charged his crossbows. After the stand and shoot, 9 Swordmasters made it into combat. I wiped out the Crossbows to a man. :)

On the other side, I had three Reavers left, and they eventually charged the Bolt Thrower. Sadly in two rounds of combat, I did one wound in the first round, he stuck. In the second round, I did no wounds, he did one, I broke. He then shot them to death. Sad.

The eagle hid behind a hill the entire game - there was never a change to move out without being exposed to huge amounts of archery. I don't think the 100 points were worth it to use up one units shooting round.

In my other questionable move, my Frosty rear charged his Manticore Lord from a hill. Huge static combat resolution for me! I thought I could break him, or at least hold him up until the Star Dragon could help out. The Frosty had 2 wounds on him at that point. I do not think this was a mistake, but it was game changing. Rather than winning and tracking that Manticore Lord down, the Manticore Lord killed the Frosty with his 6 S3 and 4 S4 attacks. Frosty whiffed in his attacks. Doing the math, at most each of us should have done maybe one wound. He would have been at a one time 6 to stick. Even if he stuck, I had reformed the Star Dragon to hit the Manticore in my following charge (as even if the Manticore Lord had killed the Frosty in turn two, he would be stuck in place with no overrun).

With that the game ended. He won in total points by about 280 points (for a 9-11 loss), but my Swordmasters were the only unit getting an objective, so I got the 12-8 win! :)

Would have been a huge win if I had remembered to charge the Lancers or if the Frosty hadn't died in the first round of combat. No way the Manticore would have survived the Star Dragon.
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Re: Adepticon

#25 Post by Prince of Spires »

I'll look him up :)

Elf vs elf battles are always a bloody affair. Our rules are too close to each other for it not to be I always think. A pity on forgetting the charge T3. It sounds like you had it set up perfectly. It would have been great if it had worked out.

As for the frosty, I would probably have done the same thing. Still, it's a calculated risk. 2 wounds is not that extreme to get.

Still, congrats on the win. Definitely a step up from the previous games.

Rod
For Nagarythe: Come to the dark side.
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Toledo Inquisition
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Re: Adepticon

#26 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Prince of Spires wrote:I'll look him up :)

Elf vs elf battles are always a bloody affair. Our rules are too close to each other for it not to be I always think. A pity on forgetting the charge T3. It sounds like you had it set up perfectly. It would have been great if it had worked out.

As for the frosty, I would probably have done the same thing. Still, it's a calculated risk. 2 wounds is not that extreme to get.

Still, congrats on the win. Definitely a step up from the previous games.

Rod
Back home, more later - thanks for the kind words. Just one clarification, the Frosty had taken two wounds so far, and had three left.
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Re: Adepticon

#27 Post by Toledo Inquisition »

Next game (4) was versus Dwarves...oh great, now I'm going to get warmachines I thought!

My opponent was from Canada, a real nice guy. From Edmonton I think, maybe Calgary. Sorry, I forgot his name.

Objective - most scoring units within 6" of the center at the end of the game

His army

King with S5 & no AS weapon, T6 upgrades

BSB (his equipment never came into play)
Rune Priest hero (AP1, and antimagic, never came into play) - -1 to wound spell, distracting, and one more that I also wanted to stop always

25 or so Greybeards with Great Weapons
30 or so Dwarves with Spears and shields (an excellent conversion unit, looked great)
12 or so core Dwarves with handguns (24" range)
12 or so core Dwarves with handguns (24" range)

25 or so Slayers
Bombing copter
Regular copter

Catapult
Organ Gun with +1 to wound


Setup from my left to right

Bomber---gap---handguns-Greybeards with General-Spears with BSB and Priest-organ gun-Slayers-catapult-handguns---gap---regular copter

There was a building in the left center middle and a big hill on my left side in his deployment zone, with a forest around his organ gun

My deployment from left to right

Star Dragon and Frosty on far left, staying out of sight behind building in turn one. In the middle - Spears-White Lions with BSB-Swordmasters. One fast cav on either side of the line and back, so they wouldn't get pasted early. Lancers on my right side trying to get a bead on the copter (but a hill was in the way also). Eagle in back.

In his early turns, he didn't have LOS to my monsters, as they started behind the building and moved up on the far left side behind the hill. Instead his catapult was dropping rocks on the Swordmasters and the organ gun was shooting at them and White Lions. By turn two, his regular copter had moved around and shot off a few Reavers. He was better able to position his copter with a small base and flying, and I couldn't set up the lancers to get a charge. His handgunners on the left were shifting to guard the flank, and the right side ones shot once and repositioned once.

Bottom of two, I had to position the Swordmasters in front of the Slayers to force a charge. I knew the Swordmasters (down to 13 or 14) weren't going to live, but with all his shooting, I had to do something, or they'd be combat ineffective in one more round of shooting. On the bottom of the second, my monsters were on his left side popping out from the hill for a turn 3 charge. Move up the spears and White Lions.

Turn three he charged the Slayers in the Swordmasters - even with my dispel scroll, he still got the -1 to wound off on them. I scrolled the distracting spell. In close combat, I was on fire hitting with all but a few attacks, and did very well swinging back - I had 13 or so wounds (very few 3's to wound which is what the spell was stopping). He ward saved a few back, and then got all his attacks. By the end of combat, I had lost all but two Swordmasters, who fled. He didn't pursue, I think he was going to let the copter shoot the last two to death.

I think this was the round the organ gun ruled too well - two 6's(?). It misfired or couldn't shoot due to this? The remaining shooting was slowly peeling wounds off the rest of my units, although the catapult misfired and caused a wound at some point.

Bottom of three - I think my opponent expected my to charge both the Star Dragon and Frosty into the front of the Greybeards, but the range was medium (needing 7" or 8" beyond base charge to make it in for both). I didn't think I could make it. Instead the Ancient charged the handgunners, who intentionally fled. I chased him down and reformed. Frosty repositioned itself. To protect the Frosty, I placed my eagle in front of his Greybeards, to realign his big unit so that I couldn't get charged. I moved the spears for a medium charge next round towards his Greybeards, so that I'd be in good shape for spears, Dragon and Frosty all to hit the Greybeards. White Lions were doing some fancy movement to avoid getting combo charged by spears and Slayers.

Next turn he charged the Greybeards into the eagle, and took his spears on a long charge into the flank of my spears. They made it. Shooting took off more White Lions and the Slayers repositioned themselves. I haven't mentioned it but the bomber was draining infantry wounds and/or killing my left side Reavers.

In combat, I actually played smart and directed the eagle to kill his champ, and it did! But then the eagle died. In combat, my spears did poorly, but so did his. Due to terrain, he wasn't able to get all his attacks in, so I lost mostly by the charge, ranks, flank, but I held on a rerollable 5 or 6. His Greybeards had to make a choice - give the Star Dragon the flank and the Frosty the front, or vice versa. He decided to give the Frosty the front, as he knew that would be easier to kill.

Turn 4 - I charged the side of the Greybeards with the Dragon, and the front with Frosty. My right side Reavers had only lost two so far, but were able to charge the catapult. White Lions were still trying to get the correct attack angles and not get double charged by spears and Slayers. The Lancers got in position to charge the organ gun the next combat round (if they weren't shot off first) In combat, with no unit champ, he wasn't sure whether his general should issue a challenge (the general was in base to base with the Star Dragon on the corner of the unit.) He decided not to challenge. By the end of combat, his general with S5 and no armor saves managed to put 2 wounds on the Star Dragon (the Greybeards didn't) and the Greybeards did 3 wounds to the Frost Phoenix. In return, all my attacks including breath weapon killed about half his unit. He held. The Reavers did two wounds, but he held.

Top 5, his Slayers charged the spears also. Ouch. His organ gun shot all 5 Lancers dead to the man. Last two Swordmasters died to copter fire. Was able to stop the spells this turn I think. In combat, the spears dropped some Slayers, but were overwhelmed and autobroke from combat. He chose to hold with his Slayers, but his spears caught my spears. In combat the Star Dragon kicked some major behind again, and didn't take any wounds back. I think it did about 4 or 5 stomp wounds. His Greybeards did manage to kill the Frosty by taking off its last two wounds. But after combat, he was down to the general and three Greybeards! He needed a rerollable 2 to hold, but didn't get it and fled! The Star Dragon had to pursue to catch all those points. I caught him, but the Star Dragon took two wounds from a forest. Sigh! In close combat, the catapult and Reavers each killed someone, and that combat continued.

Bottom of 5, the Star Dragon wasn't in good position for a charge - I was in the middle of no man's land! So I decided to move the Dragon within 12" of the catapult and one inch from the organ gun to charge that in the 6th! The Slayers were down to about 8 guys, and the White Lions were down to about 13 plus the BSB. I had to get those Slayer points, so charged the Lions into the Slayers. In combat, I cut him down to 4 slayers, and he killed about 5 Lions. Unbreakable and he reformed for better position. My Reavers lost combat to his catapult crew (which was down to its very last wound), but I was down to my last Reaver also. The Reaver broke and fled.

Top of six, he was reforming his spears to get close to the objective while still protecting themselves in case the Lions won combat again and killed the slayers. His catapult killed my last Reaver, and his Organ Gun was firing at my Dragon. He rolled slightly less than average in number of shots and to hit and to wound with the organ gun, only doing a wound to the Star Dragon, which made its 5+ WS from Charm of Cursed Iron. Still 3 wounds left on the Dragon! His right side gunners also didn't do any wounds to the dragon! Yes! In combat, I rolled poorly with the White Lions and especially with the BSB. I killed only two Slayers, so two left. He killed one or two Lions. If I haven't mentioned it, this combat was in the center of the board, so if I didn't kill the slayers, he'd get the objective points for two units AND he'd get half points for the slayers.

The Star Dragon charged the hated organ gun, and killed it. In close combat, I did three wounds to the slayers and he only made one 6+ Ward Save. Barely, but I killed the Slayers to a man! :D I had 7 Lions left and the BSB.

The game ended there. No objectives for either side, as his spears neutralized the Lions. We both lost a ton of models!

He lost:

General, all the slayers killed to a man, Greybeards almost killed to a man with the last trio run down, a unit of handguns, the organ gun, and half points for the catapult.

I had lost the Swordmasters, a unit of Reavers, Lancers, Eagle, Spears, Frosty and the Lions were heavily dented (but didn't give up the points). I think the left side Reavers also died, but if there is a point differential that doesn't make sense, either half or full points may have been held.

What survived: Dragon, BSB, Lions and their points, maybe one unit of Reavers. On his side, the Spears, BSB and Priest, both copters, one unit of handguns, and half points on the catapult.

A super bloody game, just the kind that makes it fun. I won 12-8 on pure points (no objectives).
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