Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 End of Year Wrap Up

So in doing this blog I have gained a lot of respect for those who did it before me.  It sure does take a lot of time to do a battle report, even one to the low standards I make it to.  I figure I spend at least 4-5 hours writing about the 5 games, more if you consider lists, missions and the other posts I do for each event.  Phew.

The hobby posts are much easier.  Most of that time is spent doing the actual hobbying, which I would be doing anyways.  Then it’s just a few snaps with my phone on my desk (no fancy light box, real camera BS here) and a few minutes to provide context, usually while watching TV before bed (since I do most of my hobbying at night).

What I’ve found the hardest is time.  I want to post the missions and lists and what not near when the event occurs, and yet I may spend the three to six months before doing all the hobby work for it.  I early debated just saving the hobby posts and fitting them in around the event between the tactical posts and the battle reports.  After a few months though, I already had a big backlog of posts, and with the exception of two weeks of dry period (which was only dry because I had to cancel a trip to a tournament) the back log was constant.  It’s crazy looking back.  Like after Adepticon, I pushed those battle reports out really fast, and then a month later they were still posting while everything else I had done was just waiting.  So in the end I decided to drop the hobby posts in as I was doing them, even if it mean that there were gaps in the story or it came off out of order.  I figure no one reads it anyways.

I still haven’t done any promoting of this site, and probably won’t.  I did add it to my signature the few times I post on the skaven forum website, and I haven’t hidden it – telling my opponents or anyone else who has asked.  What I haven’t done is signed up for any of the reposting sites, like the BOLS list.  Maybe I will… there were a few times where I almost did.

2014 will probably see a few less games.  2013 I got in 60+ games. 2014 I will probably come in closer to 50.  I decided that I will not be attending QCR in 2014 and I won’t be attending the CoCs – as I will be the new TO.  So less posts about games, and maybe a few posts about learning to run an event.  I will be attending Adepticon, and am signed up for 14 games.  SAWS is also a go, through I won’t be playing Chaos Dwarves as I’ve missed too many hobby days.  For Adepticon I will be taking High/Dark Elves, so I will probably end up picking one of those for SAWS.


Happy New Years.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Hobby Update - Airships

And let the painting marathon begin


Here they are, a nice white. This took me way longer than I expected as it turned out I was out of spray. All those sales and I got a big wall of models but forgot to think about the other necessaries.

I was looking around the internet and I think Ive decided to go with a bone hull with skaven runes painted on for the main section of the hull. There will of course be paint damage. The rest will be fairly metallic looking. Going to have to check out the new GW technical effects paints and see if they sound better than the traditional effects.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Hobby Update - Airships

Major case of the hobby wobbles left me out of hobby time. New travel display board didnt come so needed to make up some cork bases.

Next I will drill them and then Im ready for base spray and january painting. 


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Practice Game - Gabriel Osuna - Ogres

Gabriel is a local guy who can often be found looking for a game on Fridays and Saturdays.  He and I haven’t played before, as I don’t get in a lot of non-event games, but he was he was kind enough to give me a game in preparation for the 2999 CoC.

The List
Slaughtermaster – Armor of Destiny, Fencers Blades, Level 4, Lore of Death

Butcher, Level 2, Lore of Great Maw, Great Weapon, Crown of Command
Bruiser, BSB, Heavy Armor, Great Weapon

15 Ironguts, Full Command, Dragon Hide Banner
12 Gnoblars
12 Gnoblars
12 Gnoblars
12 Gnoblars
9 Bulls, Iron Fist, Full Command
9 Bulls, Extra Hand Weapon, Full Command

6 Maneaters, Full Command, 3x Brace of Pistols, 3x Great Weapons, Heavy Armor, Poison, Scout, Razor Banner

Ironblaster
Ironblaster

Magic
For this practice game I decided to split the difference on magic spells, going 3/3 (Grey Seer 3/1 and Engineer 0/2).  I wasn’t really sure what spells I wanted, as there are so many good spells.  I ended up with the Engineer having Warplightening and Scorch and the Grey Seer having Plague, Death Frenzy, Wither and Pestilent Breath along with 2 warpstone tokens.


Gabriel rolls up Strength and Toughness on his token maw caster, spells he is very happy with.  His death caster ends up with Soul Blight, Fate of Bjuna, Doom and Darkness and Spirit Leech.





Deployment: Battleline
For the roll offs Gabriel will win and choose to deploy first as we have equal drops and he wanted the +1 to go first.

Gabriel starts off by dropping 2 gnoblar units sufficiently placed to make sure that I would not get a corner for scouting.  I do the same with a pair of rat darts.  The rest of his army goes down the line with the gutstar taking the center along with the parry bull unit.  The other bulls take the right flank and will later be joined with the man eaters.  The iron blaster took the back edge in the center.

My deployment had me spreading the rat darts out.  I figured if they didn’t have something to chaff they might be able to kill gnoblars.  The stormvermin took the left side of the center to minimize its chance of getting flanked early.  The two slave units then went on its left side of hopefully provide some distraction for the Ironguts.

Gabriel won the roll and put down his man eaters on the far right.  I then put down my scouts on the left, hoping to roll the gnoblars in a turn and get back into the ironblaster.  I put one unit in front of the bulls and ironguts in hoping to lure them into early striking range of my stormvermin.  I was really interested in seeing what my unit could do, especially to an army of multi-wounds.

We roll off and Gabriel gets the first turn.

Turn 1 – Ogres
To start the game off Gabriel makes the charge from the bulls into the gutter runners.  Wanting to lure out a unit to test my bunker, I stand and shoot and get 2 wounds through.  He rolls a 10 to secure a D3 impact hit.  [Gabriel’s’ smart play would have been to hold back with the gutstar and flee with the bulls despite my having additional units to push.  Odds are probably good I wouldn’t push him off and the gutstar, having stayed back would have been there to general/bsb catch them.

The rest of Gabriel’s army moves up strong, except for the man eaters which make sure not to march.

Gabriel rolls a, 11/6 magic phase.  I allow a 3D soul blight on the gutter runners.  They are already dead and I’m just looking for poison.  I then dispel a 3D spirit leech on my BSB.  I allow a 2D +1S on Bulls, and then allow a 3D Doom on my gutter runners.  He fails his 1D +1T, but I would have dispelled it with my remaining dice.

The first cannon takes off 7 stormvermin, and the second takes off 2 slaves.  The man eaters kill a packmaster and a giant rat and the unit on the right runs off the table.


My gutter runners lose half to the impact hits, do 2 wounds back (he makes his saves) and then get blown off.  I did forget my ward save, but it wouldn’t have mattered.  He decides to stand and not overrun towards my bunker.



Turn 1 - Skaven
I charge gutter runners into gnoblars.  I then charge my weapons team and the stormvermin into the small bull unit.  He holds and the weapon team fails.

I roll a 9/6 magic phase.  I 3D death frenzy on to my stormvermin, which he allows.  I 3D wither onto his gut start.  He throws 4 dice but still fails his dispel.  I then 3D scorch which he dispels with 2.

My gutter runners gill 4 gnoblars in shooting and the unit runs back towards the center of the board.

In combat, my gutter runners kill 5, he runs and gets caught, clearing the flank and access to the iron blaster.  I go to roll against the bulls (he has 25 wounds left).  First I roll the assassins… 14 wounds total.  Then I roll my fell blade… 17 more wounds, and the unit gets picked up.  Amazing.  I also did roll well, 6 fellblade attacks maximizes at 18 wounds.  Suffice it to say we both respected that unit.  The stormvermin over run, but not that far.

I lose 5 stormvermin to death frenzy (forgot my MR ward save ) and didn’t take a wound from fellblade.




Turn 2 – Ogres
Having put a unit of slaves in front of the gutstar last turn, Gabriel charges the slaves this turn.  The gnoblars don’t rally and his right flank continues to come around.

He rolls a 6/3 magic phase.  I allow a 2D +1S on gutstar.  He fails to cast a 2D Doom on the slaves and I dispel his last 2D +1T on gutstar.

The left ironblaster misfires and loses this turn and next.  The other ironblaster kills 3 stormvermin.  The man eaters kill 2 slaves.

In combat the slaves do 2 wounds to the gutstar.  I then lose nearly 30 which causes me to lose steadfast and I pop, killing some giant rats.




Turn 2 - Skaven
Night runners don’t come on.

A rat dart on the right center charges gnoblars.

The stormvermin pass their frenzy test and reform to face the iron guts who have reformed.  This is of course after I launch my engineer cloud to ensure that he doesn’t get impact hits.  I pull back on the right and move up with my gutter runners on the left to shoot the misfired ironblaster.

I roll an 8/7 magic phase.  I start off with a 2D warp lighting on the ironblaster which he dispels.  I then 3D scorch, which he allows.  I do 6 wounds on the gutstar, and 1 on the butcher but he passes his panic.  I then 3D plague, which he allows (keeping his dice to prevent me from using my tokens on wither).  I kill 2 ironguts and put 1 wound on the BSB.  This leaves the unit with 39 of 55 wounds.

In shooting I put both gutter runners into the ironblaster.  I do 10 wounds, averages saying it dies, but he saves 8.

In combat I kill 3 gnoblars and lose 2 rats.  He holds.


I lose 4 Stormvermin to the death frenzy (forget saves again) and don’t take any from the fell blade.





Turn 3 – Ogres
The bulls charge the slaves on the right, needing an 11 (unit is outside general and bsb).  The man eaters charges a rat dart which flees.  The iron blaster charges the gutter runners, I stand and shoot and get 6 wounds.  He saves 5, making him 13/16 on his 4+ armor.  The bulls will fail, the man eaters catch the rat dart and the iron blaster makes its charge.

The gnoblars fail to rally and run off.

Gabriel rolls a 7/6 magic phase.  He starts off with a 2D soul blight on the stormvermin.  I scroll it.  He then 2D Doom on the stormvermin, which I dispel.  I then dispel his +1T on the gutstar.

I right ironblaster misfires and blows itself up.  It then kills 5 gnoblars off the full unit and 7 off the one in combat.


The gutter runners lose 4 to impact (I remember my saves).  I do 2 wounds, which he saves 1, making it 14/18 saves and keeping the bastard alive with 1 wound.  He wins and catches me, hitting the rat dart and insuring I can’t shoot him on my next turn.



Turn 3 - Skaven
Still no night runners.  I use both my potions.

I charge the stormvermin into the front of the gutstar.  I then flank with a rat dart in order to open up space for the doom flayer to also get a flank.  I figure a rat will live so I’ll get the static as well.

My gutter runners back off so the Ironblaster can’t turn and charge them.  I use my engineers to prevent the ironblaster from getting into the stormvermin next turn.

I roll a sad 5/4 magic phase.  I 3D scorch onto the bulls, do 4 wounds and he passes his panic.  I then throw 4D, including my warpstones (7/4) at wither but he dispels it.

All my units in the combat pass fear.  The Slaughtermaster challenges and I accept with my S7 Assassin.  I wound him 4 times but he passes 3 of his 4+ wardsaves.  I get 1 wound on my single D3 and then the Assassin is killed.  My fellblade splits his attacks between the Crown of Command (2A) and the unit (4A).  I fail to hit the Crown once and then roll a 1 to wound, but the warlitter comes through and kills the stubborn.  Collectively, after my I3 and before he attacks I take the 39 wound unit down to the BSB (1 wound on him from before), the Slaughtermaster (who has already fought) and 1 wound left on the champion… so 9 wounds… Means I did 30 wounds, having fully fought but for the BSB’s great weapon and he had stepped up into a place where he couldn’t attack.  Gabriel doesn’t take his attacks, even though he could probably having killed the Fellblade, but instead concedes.


So a quick game and a decisive victory.  I really love the way Death Frenzy interacts with my army, and I think for the next three games it will always be a first turn casting.  Wither was also wonderful.  Because I want to maximize my chance for both spells I’m going to keep the split of my dice at 3 per lore.  The other spells will be nice, but I think those two are my key.  I’m still a little concerned that my army might underperform against units without multi-wounds and large model count, but I’m hopeful.  What I really don’t want to see is always strikes first like witches as they will easily pick off my characters before I have a chance to fight.  And I’m just dead if I see a Banner of the World Dragon.

Monday, December 23, 2013

December Fantasy Contest of Champions – Preparation

I was feeling a little uninspired for this event.  I don’t really have enough of my converted armies to play at 2999 and with my daunting current project list I didn’t have time to add anything, even to painting a second grey seer.  Working around the comp (this list is a nice -4 due to magic items), and wanting to do something different than the rat ogre hoard I’ve been running, I mucked around and came up with the following list.  It’s still a tank and chaff list, but I’ve tried to get rid of the juicy targets (bonebreakers and aboms) and really stream line it down.  I’ve also squeezed in a grey seer to keep the army viable in all phases.  It’s long, so if you fall asleep half way through I will understand.

Warlord, General, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Preservation, Dragon Helm, Potion of Foolhardiness, Shield, Warlitter
Warlord, Fellblade, Warlitter
Grey Seer, 3x Plague, 1x Ruin, Foul Pendant, Dispel Scroll

Assassin, Blade of Corruption, Smoke Bombs
Assassin, Weeping Blade, Potion of Strength
Chieftain, BSB, Rampager’s Standard, Great Weapon
Engineer, Level 2, Crown of Command
Engineer, Obsidian Loadstone
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer
Engineer

42 Stormvermin, full command, Razor Standard, doom-flayer
45 slaves, shields, musician
45 slaves, shields, musician
18 Night Runners, Slings, Warp-Grinder Team
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster
5 Giant Rats, Packmaster

10 Gutter Runners, slings, poison
10 Gutter Runners, slings, poison
10 Gutter Runners, slings, poison


So everyone goes into the stormvermin, 6 wide and deep, giving me 10 ranks.  There are 4 engineers I may not deploy inside but instead nearby to throw out as chaff, along with defending the flanks with the slaves and the further flanks with the giant rats.  Or I can leave the engineers in unit and throw them out to just delay the game with double flees to try to open up flanks with silly failed charges while gutter runners eek out points.

With the warlitters and assassins in front (and the BSB in the second rank behind an assassin), the unit puts out:

4 STR10 (D6 wounds)
3 STR 7 (D3 Wounds with potion of strength)
5 STR 6 (with potion of foolhardiness)
1 STR 6
3 STR 5 (Double Wounds)
8 STR 4
1 STR 3

All armor piercing.  Also assumes that nobody is killed, which could cause the BSB to move up and get more attacks or open up more stormvermin or something.  Oh death frenzy… how I want thee.

Rampager’s Standard (Reroll Charge) versus Banner of Swiftness (+1 Movement).  I think the common practice is to take the Banner of Swiftness for one great reason… not battle standard bearer required.  I’ve decided to mix it up a little and really make sure that my tank unit makes it into combat and put up the points.

Roll
Normal
BoS
Ramp
2
Auto
Auto
Auto
3
97.2%
Auto
99.9%
4
91.7%
97.2%
99.3%
5
83.3%
91.7%
97.2%
6
72.2%
83.3%
92.3%
7
58.3%
72.2%
82.6%
8
41.7%
58.3%
66.0%
9
27.8%
41.7%
47.8%
10
16.7%
27.8%
30.6%
11
8.3%
16.7%
16.0%
12
2.8%
8.3%
5.5%
13
Fail
2.8%
Fail


I considered just making the unit movement 6, but I think I want my chaff to be able to get a little ahead, and I want the consistency of most charge ranges.  Without bonebreakers I’m fairly resistant to shooting, so my time will be restricted based on the fellblade and if they have dwellers.  I don’t really have the ability to take a lot of punishment, but I’m hoping to be able to instead put out enough to push through units like mournfang and chicken knights before they have a chance to mess me up in return.  If I get to see an ogre-star then things could get interesting.  I think I can blow through the character shield, or mess up the unit, but I’m not sure I will be around for a second round if they have the crown of command.  I will have 3 leadership 7s in the unit, so that will hopefully keep me stubborn for a while.