This report is for the UB team tournament - The Ocho. An 8-man event with 240+ players, by far the largest such event this year.
We were very surprised to cap both our round 1 and round 2 opponents, so we were matched against the very good Danish team for round 3. During pairings, I kept my BH in reserve to try to match against their WoDG player. First - because the player is a well known skilled individual and that makes a fun challenge - and two because I think my centaur beasts have certain advantages against WoDG monster mash whereas many of them may erroneously think of it as an "easy" match so will pair against it.
My list:
The Knights of No Armour Save
540 - Beast Lord, General, Razortusk Chariot, Shield, Heavy Armour (Basalt Infusion), Beast Axe (Fatal Folly), Talisman of Shielding, Lucky Charm
450 - Soothsayer, Wizard Master, Druidism, Seed of the Dark Forest
380 - Beast Chieftain, Raiding Chariot, BSB, Heavy Armour (Death Cheater), Great Weapon
215 - Centaur Chieftain, Light Armour, Paired Weapons
215 - Centaur Chieftain, Light Armour, Paired Weapons
381 - 32 Wildhorn Herd, Shield, Standard (Legion Standard), Musician, Champion (Totem Bearer (Gnarled Hide))
320 - 3 Raiding Chariots
104 - 8 Feral Hounds
95 - 10 Mongrel Raiders
461 - 14 Centaurs, GW, Standard (Aether Icon), Champion (Totem Bearer (Gnarled Hide))
461 - 14 Centaurs, GW, Standard (Aether Icon), Champion (Totem Bearer (Gnarled Hide))
415 - 10 Centaurs, Lance, Standard Bearer, Champion (Totem Bearer (Black Wing))
160 - 10 Longhorn Herd, Ambush, Halberd
160 - 10 Longhorn Herd, Ambush, Halberd
140 - 5 Gargoyles
4497
The Warriors List
820 - Exalted Herald
780 - Sorcerer, General, Wasteland Dragon, Wizard Adept, Alchemy, Light Armour, Paired Weapons (Hero's Heart), Hand Weapon, Binding Scroll, Sceptre of Power
335 - Barbarian Chief, Chimera, Shield, Heavy Armour (Ghostly Guard), Light Lance, Dragonfire Gem
265 - 10 Warriors, Lust, Champion
265 - 10 Warriors, Lust, Champion
135 - 15 Barbarians
119 - 8 Warhounds
119 - 8 Warhounds
510 - 4 Feldraks, Halberd, Musician, Champion
345 - Chosen Chariot, Lust
345 - Chosen Chariot, Lust
455 - Feldrak Elder, Paired Weapons
4493
The map is hold the ground and he "won" the roll for table side. He took the top with the hill while I took the bottom and dropped for first.
The game-plan:
Be extremely aggressive on the flanks with high risk tolerance as this allows me to pull his forces off the central hill which can helping with early scoring, and early combats take his focus off avoidance and magic missiles which can be devastating to BH.
Warriors like this build with single models and small units can be tough to fight as he can easily outmaneuver me and pick his fights while weakening with magic missiles. As long as I'm fighting, even if the odds are not great, I'm in a better position.
The ruin in the middle is particularly disadvantageous to me and not to him with his single model units and Lust strider so I want to fight in the middle with my centaurs and chariots as little as possible.
Both GW centaur units will start sober for early vanguard, and I will not ambush and instead layer the longhorn units into my line in as scoring and chaff.
I fully expect the centaur units to be sacrificial in this fight and will likely be dead by end game where my chariot characters will need to handle the heavy lifting. Hopefully the centaurs can trade up before they go.
Deployment
I set up symmetrically with GW centaurs on the flanks, and lance centaurs and chariots in the middle. He countered with his fast movers on the hill facing the objective, and his warrior units to the left side.
T1 BH
On either flank, the GW centaurs and chieftains vanguard plus move as far as they could. On the right side, they could just clear the cliff, getting ready for a charge in subsequent turns. On the left, I had them ready to be charged by his chimera. The chieftain bailed out of the unit in preparation. Everything else shuffled up in the middle staying out of charge reach of his hill. The hounds ran up with vanguard plus move to try to bottle in his front warrior unit. Magic gets a master of earth on the right hounds and kills four, but they pass their panic.
The main play at this point is the centaurs on the left. I absolutely don't want him to fly around and zap those centaurs with grave calls and hellfire. I want the charge to look very enticing so he charges with the chimera. If that happens, on average the centaurs cripple it (but don't kill it) then have a very swingy 50/50 attempt to hold on steadfast and then kill it next round. However, if they have an up-swing on luck they can kill it and they have great flank opportunities next round. Worst case if they wound it, but then fail steadfast, I lose a 450pts unit but should have an easy way to get close to that in 350pts back from him on a subsequent round with a master of earth on the chimera (who should only have a wound left).
I bail out the chieftan because he won't be doing any good to them (challenged out) and I might as well mitigate his loss if the centaurs go down. Plus, if they try to zap him with hellfire, then that's one fewer buff spell on the fight.
T1 WoDG
They take the left centaur charge with the chimera. Both his herald and dragon fly to the left, off the hill to support with magic. The warriors charge the dogs in front, who flee. A chariot also charges the dogs, and they flee again, hitting the BH lines and bouncing off the board. The feldraks charge the longhorns in front of them who run to safety. Magic is lucky, buffing attempts on the chimera are dispelled but a hellfire hits the chieftain, who luckily only takes a single wound.
Unfortunately, combat is disastrous. The centaurs fail their primal fury and whiff their attacks, only doing 2 wounds. They also fail steadfast and run off the board.
T2 BH
Lots of charges to start the second BH turn. The wildhorns first charge his hounds on the left, who flee off the board. I don't recall why they were pushed forwards. They redirect into his left chariot (who charged my dogs) who holds. The lance centaurs charge his first unit of warriors (who also chased of my dogs) and they flee to safety behind his lines. They redirect into the same chariot, who now flees. He lands behind the lines, where the lone chieftain also charges it. Unfortunately, it runs only 4"(another inch was off the board), so the chieftain cannot redirect further and destroys it. Finally, on the right I make a risky charge with my BSB and chariots into his dogs. He holds which leaves them in a precarious precision. The reason for this is only his lust chariot is left defending the hill, and I do not want him charging my lance centaurs who are now stranded in the middle (and scoring). I would much rather he charges the chariots who have a chance to kill him with great weapons. I also want my BSB up where he can help the centaurs so we don't have more primal fury foolishness!
The dragon, feldraks and barbarians pass their panic checks. The right centaurs move up to face his feldrak elder, copying the left centaurs (to hopefully better results!). Magic gets off a throne'd master of earth on the chimera... and does 1 wound. The general moves up in the middle where he can both help the wildhorns rally (when they flee next round), as well the chariots should they run. This allows me to zone the middle, but I can't cover the left flank where he will likely go with his herald.
T2 WoDG
Warriors respond with an equal number of charges! The feldraks start the turn by charging the wildhorns, who flee behind the BH lines to safety. His feldrak elder charges the centaurs in front of him and the lust chariot charges the chariots in front of him. The warriors in the backfield charge my chieftan.
The dragon moves back behind the hill, whereas the herald fills in the open spot on the left flank, where he does 7 wounds to the lance centaurs with a hellfire and a breath weapon. In combat, the right centaurs... also fail their primal fury and whiff and do 1 wound to the elder. Fortunately, they don't fully copy the left flank's example and hold on steadfast. The chariots do better and lose 1 chariot but do several wounds in return (despite also failing primal fury) and stick on the re-rollable BSB's help.
The BH score the first secondary with the lance centaurs on the objective as his marauders were too far away.
T3 BH
The centaurs whiffing was unfortunate, but they held as expected so they should be able to grind the elder now. The chariots holding was definitely luck helping me out but I'm now down on points. Beasts only have one avenue when that happens... get even more aggressive! Who else can charge?!
After much conjoling, the longhorns in the left flank are persuaded to charge the big scary herald. They lose two to DT's on the way in. The lance centaurs and the razorchariot lord charge his marauders, who flee to safety. The razorchariot redirects into the lust chariot fight.
The wildhorns are still within range of the general, but fail to rally and run again but stay on the board. The second unit of longhorns moves up to score secondary and the gargoyles prepare for an early death by chaffing the flank of the lance centaurs from his feldraks and chimera.
Magic gets stoneskin on the longhorns who fight the herald, doing 1 wound to it but taking 5 in return, fortunately they held on steadfast. The herald turned to face them.
The chariot fight is quick and the lust chariot is killed, leaving the general to turn to face the fights near the objective. The centaurs do what I hoped for and do 3 wounds to the feldrak elder, causing it to break! And run... 12". As the first round was not great, I really needed that feldrak to be <25% to prevent it rallying so I pursued but unfortunately didn't catch it, knowing it left the centaur flank open to the dragon on the hill.
The centaur chieftan on the far left is finally killed, and the warriors turn to face the middle.
As an interlude, this was the first turn the BH passed a primal fury test (on the general)! The heavens rejoiced!
T3 WoDG
This is not a game for avoidance loving elf players... the warriors respond with even more charges! There is no picture of this turn... I was getting tired and hungry and my Ctrl + v slipped.
The dragon charged the flank of the centaurs, who challenged the champion and held on steadfast. The feldraks charged the chaffing gargoyles, killing them and over-running into the flank of the lance centaurs. The chimera declined to help, and angled to the bottom of the board looking for a charge opportunity next turn. He was confident the herald would finish the longhorns this turn alone, but it was not to be. Those brave five souls with their trusty halberds (and stoneskin) did a second wound to the herald and lasted another turn!
The marauders flee off the board but the feldrak elder rallies.
BH score secondary again. The feldraks are within range, but so are the lance centaurs (due to the chaffing gargoyles) and the second unit of longhorns. His warriors are still too far away as one was busy with the chieftan and the second fled last turn.
T4 BH
With 2 points up on secondary, and his two warrior units far away, I felt the objective was locked so it was time to continue the BH tradition of charging everything with anything, at any opportunity.
The second unit of longhorns charged his herald from behind. The razor general had a sharp wheel to clear the lance centaurs and hit the feldraks attacking their flank. The chariot unit was blocked, but the BSB had a lone charge out against the feldrak elder, who fled. The BSB redirected into his warriors behind. This was another risky charge as he has a flank opportunity with his second warriors unit and he will certainly hold on steadfast, but I need to keep up pressure to keep him off the objective and I can trust in armour (and swiftstride) to keep him safe. As if to pretend they were insulted to use the general's leadership last round, the wildhorns rallied on their own this time.
The shaman moved out of his forest to get away from the chimera. This turn he binding scrolled stoneskin, and dispelled everything else which was unfortunate for the centaurs who badly needed some help against the dragon.
In combat, the razorchariot general destroyed the feldraks. They had a couple wounds left above decimated, and I wasn't confident in the DT's to finish them, so I had to pursue with the general to kill them, even though this will leave him out of position for the rest of the game. The lance centaurs were killed in the process. The BSB chariot won the charge against the warriors but they held on steadfast. Against the dragon, with no magic help I left the chieftain up to be slaughtered and they held on steadfast again.
In the big fight against the herald, I had confidence with longhorns on front and back but unfortunately they used up their luck last round, and only continued with a single wound (3 total so far).
T4 WoDG
Not leaving anything to chance this time, the chimera charged the longhorns and he and the herald killed the remaining 10 models before they could strike. The dragon finished off the remaining centaurs. This was a stroke of luck, as a pursuit move would be disastrous as the BH player was getting tired and left his chariots in a foolish position. The warriors flanked the BSB and another error was made - not realizing glory of gold gave additional AP - I let it go and the warriors put 3 wounds on the BSB chariot as he preferred to roll only 3's for his armour saves. This could have been bad, as he chose downwards (towards the objective) for his flee direction but both warriors units rolled a 3" (same as the BSB armour saves!) and the BSB was safe.
Neither player scored the objective this turn.
T5 BH
It was disappointing to see only two charges last turn, so the BH will try to do better than their warrior's counterparts. The raiding chariots charged the first unit of warriors who fled and the feldrak elder passed his panic. They redirected into the second who held against the flank charge. The recently rallied wildhorns are about to become all-stars as they charge the chimera. It flees, and with its single wound takes DT's for the ruins... and the general (on 1,2, 3) ... and passes all of them! The wildhorns fail their redirect into the herald. The wounded BSB rallied (on decimated leadership) and in magic, the shaman healed him and put on stoneskin to prevent a re-occurence.
In combat, the chariots killed the warriors to a single model remaining, but failed to catch.
T5 WoDG and onwards
That was the last of my pictures so a quick recap of the remaining game.
The dragon makes two long charges on the shaman and his unit, they flee the first and rally and the second charge fails to reach them.
The remaining two warrior units and the chimera continue to be hassled by the chariots but all continue to escape. The warriors rally on the bottom of T6. The chimera does not, but he does pass 4 more DT's along the way bringing himself to a total of 8 successful rolls (2 of them on 50/50) with no wounds. The left flank centaurs are annoyed to hear it.
The felrak elder kills the chariots on the last round but they hit him with a GW, taking him below 25% for points.
And finally... the herald fails a march test and cannot escape the wildhorns. They hit him on an 8" charge. Stoneskin is dispelled but healing waters goes through. The herald whiffs his attacks on the champion... and the wildhorns pop the herald on static combat resolution!
End result was an 11-9 win for BH which became 14-6 with the secondary.
Closing thoughts:
This was a very uneven game so it's difficult to draw conclusions from it. For example, all game I passed 7 (seven) primal fury tests. That is no joke, you can count the high number of charges and combats that took place and see how many failures there were.
In general, the first three turns were just oppressive for poor luck. It's no good to complain about it because it always turns around in the end - for example, the longhorns had a good shot to kill the herald (but failed) and eventually the wildhorns got him. On T4, the low pursue rolls from his two warriors units prevented him contesting secondary and allowed for easy flank charges to chase them off, and keep my BSB alive. Basicially, it was three bad turns followed by three good turns so it's hard to figure out what elements of the plan were successful!
The gameplan - be hyper aggressive on the flanks to buy space for the middle to score early and to prevent him playing avoidance - seems to have worked but it's difficult to anaylze because of how uneven the dice were. The centaurs died very, very poorly with little upside. They are in this list specifically to help combat armies like this. So, did they help? Or would I have been better with typical gortachs who can still fight when magic support fails?
The previous two rounds were against infantry heavy armies which is not what I brought the centaurs for. This is the first match against monster/single model heavy warriors, and the centaurs were unimpressive. Given that the centaurs are literally only in the list to fight models like that, it's a disappointing inaugural game. They were deliberately deployed in risky 50/50 combats but it would have be nice if one had gone my way! Similarly, the middle lance unit was destroyed by a single hellfire and breath weapon, which is not what I like in a primary hitting unit to zone the center.
On the plus side, the razorchariot general did well (as he normally does). The raiding chariots probably had their best game (ever!) by charging and killing a number of threats. The little units of longhorns were very useful as blockers and to chip a few wounds off the herald. And finally, the pack tactics and the legion banner on the wildhorns combined to bag them their biggest victory yet. Having a cheap unit of T4, parry and 5 static combat resolution that can charge fast is a huge help to this list.
Regardless, it was a challenging game against a good opponent (and pleasant dude to play!) who really applied pressure at every turn. I don't think I've had a game with quite so many charges in a long time!