DaBoys GT Battle report

[johnboo]

DaBoys Fantasy Battle report - or, Caledor brings it!

Better write this while its still fresh. We finally had our inaugural 2-day DaBoys GT tournament weekend here in Rochester, NY, a somewhat standard US GT (2250 pts, 5 scenario games) though with a rather heavy comp checklist. See www.boldo.com/miniatures/daboyzgt.html for comp specifics, but in general, no one was expected to have perfect comp as it would create a very weak army. More of a checks and balances comp to debunk min-maxing army designs. We used 7th Ed rules, rather “unique” scenarios, and each table had a special feature using the rules in the new 7th ed book. I think we ended up with 16 players on the fantasy side, the Buffalo winter storm caused a few no-shows.

I brought my Caledor High Elves because
A: My best painted & converted army
B: People don’t mind facing them, rather uncommon in a tournament setting.
C: I’m pretty good with ‘em

No Dragon this time, but still very much a “bring the fight to them” design.

Prince- horse, barding, dragon armor, halberd, lion guard, Vambraces of defence
BSB- barded horse, dragon armor
Commander- eagle, lance, dragon armor, shield, Reaver bow
Mage- channeler, level 1
28 first spearelves - FC, Lion standard (prince here for immovable anvil)
29 spearelves - FC (mage)
10 silverhelms - FC
10 Dragon Princes, FC, Warbanner, champ had -3 Amulet of purifying flame (BSB here)
2 chariots
2 eagles
2250pts or so. (from memory)

The above clocked in at a 33 for comp out of 50. I thought it would have been low, but it was about middle of the road. There are reasons for some of the sizes/command choices/other odd design choices – check out the comp list before the inevitable “why did you not take 2 x 5 silverhelms?” questions.

Day 1:

Game one – Dan with Wood Elves

Yay. Here we go. I just do not enjoy facing wood elves. I learn this was Brian’s first WHFB tournament game, and his 6th WHFB game, period. Brian knew his stuff pretty well, though.
From memory:
Wild Rider lord on stag, netlings
Wild riders
L2 mage
Block of winter guard
Dryads
Wardancers
Glade guard
Glade riders
Scouts
Waywatchers

Dan was just starting out, so played with that he had, all unpainted – allowed, and I really didn’t mind. We need some new players locally, which Brian was. Turn 1 brings a huge luck issue for me. I get first turn and declair a charge with my DP w/BSB at his waywatchers deployed 12” away. Stand & shoot, 2 killing blow, one more wound, I fail the save, and roll an 11 for panic, run 9 off the board You gotta be sh*tting me. First game, first turn I’m playing 500pts down, without my hammer unit. We had to play slower than normal and got in 5 turns and in the end I managed to fight my way back and collect enough points for a draw. Other highlights, eagles took care of wild riders with stag-lord with diverting who never saw combat. Scenario never came into play (attack the camp). Dan played well beyond his experience, and look forward to playing him again sometime.

Record 0-0-1

Game two – Greg - Ogre Kingdoms

From memory:
Tyrant, seigebreaker
BSB
Butcher, bangstick
8 Ironguts FC (tyrant & bsb here!!!!!)
2 x 3 leadbelchers
2 x 4 bulls FC extra hw
2 x 4 bulls FC ironfists

Hmmm. Not what I would call tuned. Greg was a nice guy and still kept up a cheery disposition even when things went terribly wrong. In a nutshell - with his Ironguts blocked by an impassible historic monument in the center of the table, my opponents second turn charged his Tyrant out of the big unit and a unit of extra HW bulls into the Stubborn spear unit, pretty much wiffed, and I killed 2 bulls back, winning the combat though he holds. My turn, chariot into the flank of the bulls, tyrant does not roll snake eyes on 2 chances and gets run down. DPs blew past one flank and in ensuing turns flank charged the surrounded ‘Guts, and its pretty much game over. Scenario was a version of gain ground, having to control more table quarters than your opponent – the only way to win – VP made no difference. Nice guy, I really felt bad as he really had no answer to my 2 blocks of cavalry.

Record 1-0-1

Game three – Morbid with Skaven

Nice metal guy, goes by the name “Morbid”. He’s local, but plays his games over at the “other store”. He has a clan pestilens theme going with some really classic skaven models. Fairly sure he never updated his army from 5th ed.

From memory:
Grey Seer on screaming bell
BSB with cause fear banner
Big block of clanrats (bell here)
1 ratling, 1 warpfire
Big block of stormvermin
Hero in stormvermin
Unit of 2 ratswarm bases
3 rat ogres
big block of slaves
plague monks
10 plague censer bearers

Scenario was ambush, if you managed to deploy all your units before your opponent, you got a normal move for a non-flying unit for each unit he still had to deploy. Cool in theory, but our units balanced out and pretty much meant nothing to us. Early on, his vermin was ripping my spear units to shreds, DPs took a hit with plague after running through the Rat ogres on the left. The silverhelms tasked with dealing with the plague monks on the right won combat, but the dirty rats held – bad thing as the PCBs then flanked them on the ensuing turn. My mage got off an unlikely Vauls unmaking with IF upon the Seer’s unit, with me turning off the fear banner. I had to pretty much bring in the mages spear unit along with a chariot with only 1 wound left into the Seer/Bell/BSB/clanrat unit. The other spear unit was finishing off a rat swarm. Some above average rolling had the bell trying to hold on a 2, broke and was run down by the spears! No subtle elf tricks, just plain ol’ beatdown. Chariot crashes into the WFT, ratling panics, stormvermin panic, slaves panic. Stee-rike! Ensuing turns stormvermin off the table, slaves charged by DPs, silverhelms beaten again, too small to rally. A rather enjoyable game with a nice guy. Morbid and I are 1-1 vs each other now.

Record 2-0-1

End of day one, I’m looking pretty good!

[adsvampire]

Sounding good so far. Who was there and what armies were represented?

[Sanguinary]

Results

www.frontiernet.net/~mjwest/Fantasy%20Results.htm

[adsvampire]

What a squeeker! Nice job John! And did Jay Halstead kick butt or what! Nice.

[johnboo]

Well, the results are in, but I'll continue the report!

Day 2.

I find out I’m one of two undefeated armies, and came in thinking I would be facing Nathan’s Dwarfs, who went undefeated day one. Walking by our local VC guy, Jay, he says “Right here, you and me!” Huh. Not sure how that happened, but that’s what the sheet says.

Game four Jay with Strigoi vampire counts

Jay and I play each other fairly regularly on the store and it usually comes down to who’s got the luckier dice.

Stigoi VC, L2, bat form, infinite hatred, summon ghouls
Wight BSB (banner of barrows – see below)
Necromancer, L2, paperback of archon
Necromancer, L2, periapt
2 blocks of 25-ish skellies
1 block of zombies
5 black knights with screaming banner (jay actually had this on the BSB, but mixed up his banners in our game so we played it this way)
2 big blocks of ghouls
2 x 10 direwolves
6 fell bats

Now, Jay and I had just played a game Thursday night – My above army vs his necrarch version and I had won that game handily. Guess its payback time….

Scenario was “prisoners” – one of the two most controversial. You assigned your opponents messengers to a unit of US5 (non flying) or better. A unit that has a prisoner cannot march, and should the unit get into combat, the prisoner escapes on a 5+ and runs free. A free prisoner can be shot dead (only way to actually remove it from the table), or recaptured by losing combat to a US5 or better unit. Here’s the kicker – each prisoner you retain at the end of the game is worth 500VP!!!

In the center of the board is a special feature, hill of heroes or something like that. The controller of the feature can never be outnumbered, however the special feature rules in the rulebook say you control a special feature by being the largest US near it. Old guys like Jay and I had already forgot that Boldo told us yesterday this feature was the only one different and it’s whoever is on the hill gets the bonus. (Oops!)

So, anyway. I get the jump on Jays left flank with my DPs and a chariot, really causing him movement/facing issues over there. My 3 non-marching units (Really I had only 4 that could hold prisoners) trundle forward, hero on eagle on the right takes on direwolves from the front, and does not do well, winning first combat by 2 then failing to wound the next round, autobreaks and is run down – ugh. This guy performed like this the whole tournament. Center scrum, my spearelf anvil on the hill, already immune to fear take the Strigoi’s skellies and the zombies from the front. Things go downhill as it’s a long multi-round combat and realize no help is ever coming. The DPs are tied up with small raised diverter zombies, the silverhelms had busted through their flank, but impassible terrain will keep them away well past turn 6, and the other spearblock is mowing its way slowly through a flanked raised zombie unit. As much as it seemed Jays magic was held in check, it was obvious at the end of the game one too many spells got off a turn. In the end, all three of Jays prisoners were running free, and Jay still had one of mine, and my Lion guard/immune to fear spearblock failed a break test on an 11 and broke – and the game was over from that point on. In hindsight, had I challenged with my prince instead of trying to match wounds with Mr Strigoi it might have played out differently. Big tactical error on my part and I make at least one a tournament. This really was a nailbiter and the kind of game you remember for a long time!

Record 2-1-1


More to follow - got to get some work done!

[adsvampire]

Dammit John! Where's the rest!?!

[johnboo]

Game five – Kevin with Goblins

Thinking my last game pretty much put my out of it, I was happy to find out I was on deck to face the goblin king himself, Kevin Coleman. I haven’t played Kevin in about 4 years, last time was a pickup game at the 2002 Baltimore GT which I had him against the ropes but for some reason we couldn’t finish the game. We were pretty happy about the potential rematch and since Kevin had a hand in the new Orc & Goblin book, I wanted to see what he might have in store.

Then, a big “Don’t start your games!” echoes through the room. Pairings were done wrong and people were to be re-seeded. Most stayed the same, but Kevin and I got broken up and….
My real Game five – David with Dwarfs

Thane General
Thane BSB
Thane w/GW
10 quarrelers
10 thunderers
10 thunderers
25 clansmen, shields
25 clansmen, shields
25 clansmen, shields
25 clansmen, GW, shields
25 clansmen, GW, shields
20? Hammerers

I may have missed a unit there were a lot of em; a true Dwarf horde, no war machines. This one was the comp king of the tournament scoring a 48 out of 50! Scenario was the other loathed one, after deployment you sent a (secretly chosen) character (before generals are chosen) out to the center of the table to fight to the death. Winner gains twice the VP for the character slain (character is dead for the game) and the loser chooses to go first or second. My uber-protected Prince rides out to take on one of David’s vanilla thanes, which lasted two rounds with me winning. David takes first turn and unloads 10 thunderer and 10 crossbow shots into the prince in the center, who saves all wounds between the 3+ rerollable and the 4+ ward. On my turn, spears move up and prince rejoins his unit. DPs and chariot set up on right flank to hopefully break through a unit and be able to come back around the rear. Chicken commander and an eagle manage to get behind the thunderers on the left flank. Not much happening on his turn 2, just bracing for impact. My turn two, DPs and chariot into far right GW clansmen with thane general, and Im hoping the DPs will hang off enough to also hit a second unit of clansmen, who I send a chariot into also. I find out the DPs will NOT hit the other unit (uh oh) and the chariot has to go it alone vs the hw/sh unit. I win, and the generals unit breaks leaving the chariot to pursue catch, and run into the xbows behind (looking real good here!), the other clansmen unit hold leaving the DPs in H2H. The other chariot is destroyed. Meanwhile, I’m forced to send the silverhelms into the hammerers on the left side, and the stubborn spears the next clansmen unit over to keep myself from getting flanked. In the center, the mages spears lose a combat to the clansmen unit with BSB, and thanks to the chicken commander being my general (f#$%ing intrigue at court) the mages unit breaks, but is not caught and flees 18”! David’s turn 3, move thunderers closer for a future flank charge on the silverhelms. He declares a charge on the flank of the DP+BSB unit, but after careful study, his unit is actually on the front – I tell him I’d allow the front charge or he can take back his charge declaration if he wanted to get a better position next turn. He goes through the front charge, and this combat results in the DPs losing by 2, though holding. The overrunning chariot whiffs, and takes its last wound, captured banner recovered by the xbows. My turn, the mages spears fail to rally, and move to ½” before the board edge (whew). Silverhelms kill a few hammerers, and stubborn spears & prince go off on the unit they were fighting break them and pursue into the hammerer flank. Things are starting to look up for good ol’ Caledor! David’s turn 4, thunders creep closer and will be able to charge the helms next turn. BSB unit moves closer to mage’s unit. DP/BSB scrum continues, DP lose again, but continue to hold. Hammerers are now losing combat, but hold thanks to stubborn. My turn, Mage’s spears rally! (whew!) A timely eagle swoops into the flank of the threatening thunders and holds, chicken commander charges the other flank of the hammerers, and another round of DP’s losing combat but holding thanks to the BSB. David’s turn 5, charge mages spears, but 19 pointy stick attacks match the dwarfs and combat continues. DP unit continues, DP losing yet again, and yet again holding. These were the guys that were supposed to be the hammer, and are acting like the stubborn anvil! Hammerer combat, more hammerers die, commanders’ eagle dies, hammerers fail their break test! Spear unit is the biggest, so hammerers get run down to the left, Silverhelms pursue straight into the thunderers. Silverhelms get to fight again along with the eagle, but the thunderers hold. My turn 5, DP/BSB win combat!!! Even more incredible, both dwarf units break, and I run down the bigger unit that was on my flank. Mage takes a wound but his spears hold. David turn 6, not much he can do. Rally broken dwarf unit. He kills my mage, but drawn combat again. Thunderers hold, somehow. My turn 6, charge commander on foot into thunderers, finally breaking them, fight another drawn combat with spears. Game over. I really wasn’t expecting it to end this way! David was a great opponent and I look forward to our next game! Luck was on my side this game, no doubt.

Record 3-1-1.

Awards: As they get passed out, I’m thinking I go home empty handed as each one goes to a well-deserved player. Then, out of the blue my name gets announced as overall champion! Come to find out, I squeek Kevin by ONE single point, who took a beating from his last opponent, Nathan and his dwarfs. Nathan had solid battle points, but apparently matches were set up using a combination of categories, thus Nathan and I never meeting. Next time, Nathan!

A first class job for a major tournament put on by DaBoys, with hopefully many more to come.

[adsvampire]

John, you da man! Great going!

[johnboo]

Thanks! Gotta say - I'm still stunned. But I'll take it. ;D

Honestly, I think the fantasy comp system actually worked. May need a little fine tuning, but overall there were no min-maxed atrocities running around - the whole goal, really.

The scenarios also could have use a little more fine tuning. VPs given in the prisoner one were too huge in my opinion, and though it worked out for me, the pre-battle challenge one is pretty harsh, epecially if one only took a wussy mage and non-tooled hero - which many did due to trying to get those few comp points.