So, for starters, what did i take.
Arch Lector
Armour of Meteoric Iron, Great Weapon, Van Horstmann’s Speculum
Wizard Lord
Level 4, Feedback Scroll, Lore of Shadow
Master Engineer
Hochland Long Rifle, Light Armour
Captain
Battle Standard, Banner of Eternal Flame, Full Plate Armour
Battle Wizard
Level 2, Lore of Metal
30 Handgunners
Full Command, Hochland Long Rifle
30 Spearmen
Full command
6 Knights
Standard, Musician
15 Greatswords
Full Command
Mortar
Mortar
Great Cannon
Hellstorm Rocket Battery
Hellstorm Rocket Battery
First game of the weekend was against Matt Hobday and his Orcs and Goblins. The scenario played was Meeting Engagement. This game went pretty much how you'd expect with the amount of artillery i had mustered. His Orc Boyz with BSB and Morks Spirit Totem took a battering from rockets in the first turn, and then animosity forced half his army to stand still and squabble, prompting another barrage in the second turn where the night goblins who the BSB was sheltering with after fleeing his Orc bodyguard took a severe battering. My feedback scroll also took his great shaman down to a single wound, prompting both my snipers to start eying him up. Matts turn 3 started badly when he called a Waagh, and his Night Goblins rolled a 1, forcing the Black Orc with them to kill 5 and cause them to flee, taking his Goblin shaman with them. This unit eventually fled the board. My Spearmen with my Arch Lector and BSB faced his unit of Black Orcs and they ground against each other for a few turns until eventually the Black Orcs lost by enough to break and run. In this same turn, Matts Savage Orcs chased after my fleeing knights and slammed into the front of my handgunner unit, the now famous Kaurbrook Regulars. The handgunners promptly beat the Orcs in combat and with them fleeing Matt conceded the game.
Game 2 saw me face off against Dave Beastall's Vampire Counts in the Battle for the Pass. This scenario was ideal for me, allowing me to sit back and soften up the undead from afar. This softening didnt have much effect until turn 3 when my Spearmen with Arch Lector charged Daves Black Knight unit harbouring his Vampire Lord. 2 turns later and the Vampire was slain by the Arch Lector in a drawn out challenge (after many passed ward saves by Dave), and the vampires started to crumble. The Black Coach by this time was slowly chewing through the stalwart handgunners and was joined by a 40-man unit of ghouls who slew all 15 greatswords the turn before. This broke the handgunners, but it was too late for us to get any more fighting done as my Spears and Knights had broken through on the left hand side while he demolished me on the right. The game was won by a small margin, boosting me up to table 2 for the 3rd round.
In game 3, I was pitched against Lian Smith, a friend of mine who id convinced to come up for the weekend to play, so we had a lot of fun in this game, The scenario played was Blood and Glory. I started out confident as Lian only had 4 fortitude points, so i could win the game quickly by killing his Slann. Unfortunately Lian got the first turn and proceded to slay half of my handgunners as well as my Wizard Lord and BSB as i rolled a slew of 6's against the Dwellers Below. This put a serious dent in my plan of dropping the Slann into the Pit of Shades. The game was a close run affair as i gave up all my expendable units while trying to manouvre a multi-unit charge on his Temple Guard, the only real hope i had of winning. Some inspired charge distances meant my Knights were killed outright by a lengthy charge, and then after reforming, a 16" charge in the following turn saw my Greatswords hit in the back whilst they were attacking the flank of some Saurus warriors. After the close combat the only survivor was my Gold Wizard who promptly rolled Insane Courage to stay in the fight (and die horribly next turn). In the final turn, my mortar hit and wounded the slann who only had 2 wounds remaining, but a timely ward save denied my comeback victory and as turn 6 ended we were both above breaking point, however i lost on the victory points tie-breaker.
After a great quiz on Saturday night in Bugmans Bar, including the now classic 'guess that statline', i started day 2 on the same table i had played on for my second game. My opponent this time was Colin D'Cruz and his Skaven. This army looked mean, with 50 clanrats escorting a bell, 50 plaguemonks with a furnace and an abomination, my artillery would have its work cut out. The scenario was Dawn Attack. After the majority of my army crammed into a tiny area on the left flank, which also contained a fungus forest and a large wizards tower the first few turns were uneventful. My cannon slew the Abomination in turn 2 with a mighty 6 on the number of wounds dice, and my handgunners evetually got out from behind the wood. Turn 3 was the point at which the game changed. With the Storm Banner active and the Screaming Bell Clanrats bearing down on them, the plucky Kaurbrook regulars, led by my Arch Lector and Battle Standard threw caution to the wind and charged the front of the unit while my Knights engaged it from behind. In the magic phase the Shadow Wizard did me proud, casting prenumbral pendulum at the plague furnace threatening my right flank. My opponent failed to dispel, but the spell effect wasnt important. Casting the spell allowed me to use the smoke and mirrors lore attribute to swap her with my metal wizard, playing her in range to cast Mystifying miasma on the clanrats to lower their initiative and then casting Occams Mindrazor on the Valiant Handgunners. In the ensuing combat the Kaurbrook Regulars slew 20 clanrats and inflicted 3 wounds on the Screaming bell itself, while the Knights killed only a single clanrat between them. After a cannon shot in my next turn went down the flank of the Plague Monks killing 8 and destroying the plague furnace, Colin threw in the towel and another victory was mine.
The final game of the weekend saw me facing anothe Lizardmen army commanded by Dale Thompson. Dales army consisted of lots of small fast units, and was led by an Old Blood on a Carnosaur forcing me to prioritise targets with my artillery. Sadly the game started badly for Dale when he cast chain lighting with 6 dice from his Skink Priest and the Feedback scroll saw his head pop. This was followed in my turn by the Old Blood being unseated by another pin-point shot from my cannon. After a few unlucky charges and some bad rolling, the final few turns saw the plucky Oldblood stagger from the ruins of the unit he had joined and charge bravely at the 30 handgunners without taking a single wound from their stand and shoot. So unnerved was he by the hail of shot that he only hit with 3 of his attacks and then rolled a triple 1 to wound. This failure was rounded off by failing his stubborn leadership test and fleeing with the cheering Handgunners in hot pursuit! By this stage most of Dale's remaining units were either on the verge of destruction or fleeing and he conceded the game at the end of turn 5.
So, at the end of a weekend of great gaming, 4 wins and a glorious loss earned me this:
The Best rmy award was deserved won by Richard Cooper with his fantastic Pumpkin themed Night Goblins, and overall Champion was Brian Orr with Dwarfs. Lian Smith scored the most points of the weekend, but was handicapped by the good perfomances from other Lizardmen players.
My unit of the weekend was definitely the Kaurbrook Regulars, my 30 Handgunners. Their stirring deeds saw them mentioned in the 'Dispatches from the front' reports at the end of each round no less than 3 times, as well as an honourable mention in the awards ceremony!
In other news:
Now i dont have to paint Empire men at a frantic rate, i can start to work on my Tale of Four Gamers army! I have decided to get 3 boxes of Black Orcs for my starting £60. I've assembled them (ranking them up is a pain in the behind!!!)and am planning on getting them sprayed tomorrow, ready to get painted before the end of the month so as not to incur penalties and forfeits! I will add some pictures as the painting process goes on, as im sure most of you know what they look like anyway. I have modelled the 30 to rank up in 5 ranks, 6 wide. Hopefully i will have something good to show in the next week!
Until then, ta ta for now!
