My opponent was playing Orcs and Goblins. Before the game he sent me his list, commenting that he had taken a bit of everything so that I could get to try out fighting different units. Here is his list:
Orcs and Goblins - 2000 points
Lords (Max 25%) - 298
Orc Warboss: Wyvern, Enchanted Shield, Biting Blade, Light Armor (LA), Luckstone 298
Heroes (max 25%) - 212
Orc Shaman: Level 2, Hand Weapon, Dispel Scroll 125
Orc Big Boss BSB: BSB (Battle Standard Bearer), Hand Weapon, LA, Shield, Ironcurse Icon 87
Core (Min 25%) - 630
Orc Arrer Boys x 20: Bows, hand weapon, LA 140
Orc Boys x 30: Full Command, Hand Weapon, LA, Shield 245
Night Goblins x 20: Short Bows, 2 Fanatics 110
Wolf Riders x 5: Spears, Shield, LA, Short Bows, Hand Weapon 65
Spider RIders x 5: Spears, Shield, Short Bows 70
Special (Max 50%) - 575
Black Orcs x 20: Pile O'weapons, Heavy Armor, Shields, Full Command 295
Orc Boar Chariot : Scythed wheels 85
Snotlings x 3: Exploding Spores 90
Trolls x 3: Fear, Regen, Stupid, Vomit 105
Rare (Max 25%) - 285
Giant 200
Rock Lobber 85
I took:
Skaven: - 1999 Points
Lords: 265 (0 - 500)
Grey Seer (265 pts): Warpstone Tokens, Dispel Scroll, Skitterleap, Warp Lightning, Howling Warpgale, Scorch
Heroes: 300 (0 - 500)
Chieftain (70 pts) (Battle Standard Bearer), 70 pts
Plague Priest (135 pts) (Level 2 Upgrade) Pestilent Breath, Cloud of Corruption
Warlock Engineer (95 pts) (Level 1 Wizard) Doomrocket, Warp Lightning
Core: 665 (500 - Unlimited)
40 Clanrats (242 pts) (Musician; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Light Armour)
1 Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team
40 Clanrats (230 pts) (Hand Weapon; Light Armour)
1 Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team
30 Clanrats (193 pts) (Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Light Armour)
1 Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team
5 Giant Rats (23 pts)Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)
5 Giant Rats (23 pts) Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)
Special: 483 (0 - 1000)
25 Plague Monks (235 pts)(Standard Bearer Std; 1 Storm Banner
6 Rat Ogres (248 pts)1 Packmaster (Hand Weapon; Whip; Light Armour)
Rare: 240 (0 - 500)
Doomwheel (150 pts)
Warp-Lightning Cannon (90 pts)
Game Type: Meeting Engagement.
Deployment: Skaven deployed first.
Instead of a full battle report, I thought it might be more useful (and fun) to post some pictures using a slideshow. Highlights include
- A clumsy giant!
- Ferocious Goblin Fanatics!
- Exploding weapon crews!
- Walking Wyverns...
- and much, much, more!
(Click on the slideshow to go to the photo album)
What was the result? I think we had to call it a draw because the store closed when we were still on turn 4! I had managed to cause some wounds on the Wolf Riders, the Spider Riders, the Night Goblins, The Snotlings, The Giant, The Black Orcs and the Orcs. In return I'd lost my Doomwheel, a unit of Plague Monks, a unit of Clan Rats, a Plague Priest, some Clan Rats, a Warpfire Thrower, A PWM, both units of Giant Rats, a couple of Rat Ogres. In other words, I think I got off lucky!
By the way, here are some (embarrassing) lessons learned, so you don't have to!:
ROgres.
- Don't forget Stomp.
- Don't forget Fear.
- Pretty cool attacks when en masse...
Doomwheel.
- Don't sweat zapping your own guys if it means you get into the position you want. After all, Skaven life is cheap!
- Ummm. Don't get side on...
- Has a surprising number of (low-strength attacks) when in close combat (if you role lucky!).
Clanrats.
- Think carefully at the beginning of the battle about maneuvering those large units. On a 4x4 it gets mighty busy - mighty fast - at even 2,000 pts (especially playing orcs and gobbos!) TRAFFIC JAMS really MESS WITH BATTLES!
- Steadfast. Don't forget it. Having more ranks than your enemy when defeated means you take a break test on your UNMODIFIED leadership leadership (or the general's - if in range of inspiring leadership).I think I have that right.
Poison Wind Mortar.
- Actually pretty cool - did a couple of wounds straight away, but then flubbed when my next shot with a misfire and my opponent got to place it on a clanrat unit! Because it can move and shoot I would definitely take several of these.
- PWM spam would be pretty viable against any enemy.
Warpfire Thrower.
- Did a few wounds to a Wolfrider unit, but then one of them caught on fire, ran screaming directly into a clan rat unit and took out 11 clan rats in the subsequent burning fuel apocalypse! Be prepared for hilarity like this!
- The Move or Shoot rule makes this unit tricky to work with, and make sure you don't leave him behind as he will be vulnerable to fast moving enemy units that get behind your lines...
General. (Grey Seer)
- Don't forget to put him where his "leadership bubble" is likely to cover the most units! In the excitement of setting up, without thinking I left him in my right hand unit of Clanrats so his leadership didn't help on the left hand part of my battleline at all...DOH!
Storm Banner.
- I can see why for some opponents this would be a very annoying item. In this game I started it in turn 1 and it lasted until turn 4.
- It basically shut down his Wyvern and helped to blunt the shooting from his 'Arrer Boys pretty effectively. I'd now take this if there is any chance that an opponent has half-decent shooting.
Plague Monks.
- Did OK, but like most units they need to be protected from the flanks.
Plague Priest.
- OK in hand-to-hand, but probably wouldn't stand up to a serious challenger if the opponent had a higher initiative.
- After arriving on turn 2, the cannon did manage to get a few wounds on a couple of units, but didn't succeed in sniping the giant or the Wyvern/ General.
- Always take a moment to review what targets you have with this baby! I was fixated on the giant in the room, but actually, you might also be able to line up a nice diagonal that carves its way through whole lines of enemy units.
...and perhaps the most important lesson of all?
COVER YOUR FLANKS!
Thanks to my opponent for walking me through the game and for making this first outing with the horde so much fun!
*Squeek*
p.s. I'd like to shout out my thanks to Shendar and other visitors to the Chattering Horde for posting advice and sample lists to help me. MUCH appreciated!
Hey Squeek,
ReplyDeletegreat to hear you had a nice time :). It would have been a bloody shame if you found out that you disliked the whole fantasy battle rules after painting such a huge amount of skaven. '
Your fellow opponent seems like a nice guy too, considering he specifically picked a versatile army and gave you tips and tricks during the battle :). Was he a fellow englishman? And in the gamesworkshop, do they play the games in english or all in Japanese?
Would love to hear more battle reports from you in the future, and really glad the game got you hooked!
Kind regards!
Shendar
Hey Shendar! Yup, I was pretty relieved that I had such a blast - as you say, after all that painting what if I HADN'T enjoyed my first game of WFB?
ReplyDeleteAs for my opponent...not an Englishman, but a Canadian I think. Great guy to play against, but I could say that of anyone in the small group I game with. :-) Any of them would have done the same thing when someone is trying out the system for the first time. (As would I, I hope!)
In GW Japan, you can play using whatever language you like. On the Sunday we played, half the games were being played by Japanese wargamers. The staff speak some English and are very friendly, so they will communicate with you in whatever language works! The staff made a point of pointing out the "Golden Rules" which were posted in both English and Japanese - gentlemanly behaviour, no "counts as" models (which I kind of disagree with), and all models must be basecoated to be used etc.
An interesting point - in Japan, all the army books are available as translated PDFs (for free!) as there are no printed Japanese Army books.
Due to my schedule, I may not have the chance to get in a game for a while. In the meantime, I'm working on another unit of Clanrats and hope to posted a finish step-by-step guide for the Island of Blood ROgres.
Cheers!
"...no "counts as" models (which I kind of disagree with)..."
ReplyDeleteThat's a weird rule. Shouldn't that be up to the people playing? Maybe it only refers to if there's a tournament being held there or something...
Hi C'nor! Well, the store manager talked us through it even though it was just a regular games day not a tournament, so I came away with the definite impression that it applies to all games held at the store.
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness I can see why overall this would be the easiest thing for them...
For one thing, if two people who don't know each other have a pick-up game, then this rule reduces the chance that there will be any ugly scenes caused by misunderstandings etc. "Hey - didn't you say earlier that this model was a *****?"
Another thing I can think of is trying to keep life simple for the staff regarding questions. Q: "Hey, I really like the look of the dwarves this guy is using - do you have any on sale?"
A: "Um, I'm really sorry, but those aren't actually made by GW, they are made by a company called Mantic - and no, I can't ring them and place an order for you!"
At the GW store in Tokyo, we had lots of Japanese people (naturally) who came in to look around and ended up by our table watching our game. (At one point the manager had to explain to a bloke who was picking up all my troops in the middle of the game that they belonged to me not the store!)
Having said that, I personally think it is fine if my opponent uses regular Night Goblins as Fanatics etc - as long as he asks first and then carefully explains his army during the setup.
Anyway, like I said, no biggie - "Their house, their rules"! To be honest, there are even weirder rules out there I think: You can't play certain GW games, even though they were published by GW - Gorka Morka? Nope. Blood Bowl? Don't think so...
Again this may be to keep life simple for the staff. Constantly having to explain that the game is OP (Out of Print) etc. would be pretty annoying for everyone - including interested customers, who would also be disappointed I guess.
Have you had any similar experiences at GW?
*Squeek*
Nope. I don't play any of their games at the moment, though I'm thinking about doing so. I don't even know if there's a GW store nearby.
ReplyDelete