Stopping the Hordes
The lists:
Ogre Kingdoms
Slaughtermaster, Level 4, Fencer's Blades, Glittering Scales
Bruiser, BSB, Crown of Command, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour
Firebelly, Level 2, Hellheart
9 Ironguts, Full Command, Standard of Discipline
7 Bulls, Ironfists, Full Command
4 x Mournfangs, Full Command, Dragonhide Banner
5 x Maneaters, swiftstride, stubborn
- 2 with GW's, 3 with braces of pistols
3 x Individual Sabretusks
2 x Ironblasters
The Coven of Light, Re-invented
Archmage, Jewel of the Dusk, Level 4 (lore of light)
Mage, Level 2, Seerstaff (Pha's, Banishment)
Mage, Ring of Corin, Gem of Courage (lore of light)
Mage, Anullian Crystal (lore of light)
35 x Spearmen, full command
14 x Archers, Musician
11 x Archers, Musician
14 x Swordmasters, Standard, Standard of Balance
14 x Swordmasters, Standard, Musician, Gleaming Pennant
18 x White Lions, Full Command, Banner of Sorcery, Dragonhorn
11 x White Lions, Standard, Banner of Eternal Flame
2 x Great Eagles
Going with a budget archmage in this one in favour of more bodies on the field. 57 elites is enough to give anyone pause, and with the changes to the steamtank I finally feel like I can let go of my standard forliath's robes setup without too much fuss.
Lately I've been bunkering my archmage in archers anyway in order to avoid costly miscasts exploding elites, and due to that I've needed the protection less and less.
Spells are as follows:
Slaughtermaster: Bonecrusher, Bullgorger, Toothcracker, Trollguts
Firebelly: Fireball, Piercing Bolts
Archmage: Timewarp, Speed, Banishment, Net
Ring Mage: Shem's
Crystal Mage: Shem's
1 in 36 odds of rolling banishment twice with my two level 1's, and I nailed it this gameMy spell selection on my archmage suffers
Deployment
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I forego the refused flank deployment - I learned my lesson in the last two matches. These fatties can move! With a central deployment I can make sure that all of my forces can be brought to bear if need be when it really counts.
But seriously, Ogres have a ton of drops. It was pretty much impossible to figure out where the hellheart was going to go until it was too late.
We roll off for first turn, with me getting the +1. I win the roll, and gladly take the initiative.
High Elves, Turn 1
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Determined to play a defensive game for once, I advance only enough to get my archers in range, and my White Lions in the East to threaten any aggressive advancing from the hellheart unit.
The Western great eagle moves around in order to threaten the flank of the ironblaster, should it get any ideas of shooting down my flank.
Magic rolls up 2 & 3, with the banner adding 3 and the jewel adding 1, making the phase 9 v 3
I start the phase with a 3D6 Timewarp on the White Lions, which he allows. My hope here is that the added movement will really make him think twice about moving up those mournfangs into their usual charge range. Essentially doubling the Lion's movement allows them to threaten a huge swath of the middle of the board, disrupting the normal Ogre advance; even ogres don't usually want to trifle with white lions.
My next spell is a 3D6 banishment on his Ironblaster, which he fails to dispel with his 3. 6 hits is below average, but my rolling to wound is stellar - 6 wounds results in a dead ironblaster!
I then throw 3D6 at a banishment from my level 2 on the mournfangs, but fail to meet the powered up casting value. It was a long shot, I know :P
Shooting puts one wound on the Bulls (I'm not going to stop calling them that, by the way), since the sabretusk has plenty of cover bonuses
Ogres, Turn 1
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Two of his sabretusks charge two of my eagles; The Western one makes a ridiculously long charge, and the Eastern one fails miserably, rolling 3 1's.
The rest of his army advances, but very cautiously to the West - Timewarp on the Lions keeps them honest.
Magic is 5 & 4 with no channels. He leads off with a 4D6 piercing bolts on my spearmen. I have a choice - Dispel this, or risk a powered up fireball on my elites. I decide I need the hitting power more than the ranks, so I allow the spell. 11 spearmen's wives write me angry letters after the battle. I try to explain to them how the point cost on their husbands is too high, but they don't want to listen.
He then throws 5D6 at a fully powered up fireball, but fails the casting value.
In shooting, his ironblaster misfires, and the result spins it to face the north
The sabretusk in the West whiffs its attacks, and the eagle, in an unusual display of combat prowess, manages the two wounds required to take the cat down.
High Elves, Turn 2
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I charge my eagle into the rear of the ironblaster - with 3 combat resolution from the charge, I'm confident that I can win combat by enough to break the ugly warmachine. The Western unit of white lions also make their charge, hoping to at least get in to the back lines despite their charge on the bulls being cut off.
The rest of the army, confident in its ranged superiority performs a... let's just call it a tactical retreat.
Magic is 5 & 2 - I channel, roll a 1 for the banner and add one for the jewel, making it 10 v 5
I lead off with a 4D6 banishment on his mournfangs to make things really awkward for him to dispel (drop 5 or don't bother, 1 DD won't do any good). Unfortunately I cast it irresistably. I roll 9 hits, and 8 wounds make it through with only a 6+ save remaining after the S7. However, the resulting miscast puts a wound on every one of my mages except the ring mage, making the hellheart truly terrifying. It also drains 4 dice from my phase, and I discard the rest given his remaining dispel dice. Damn. There goes my perfect shot at the ring taking out his hellheart.
Shooting actually manages some good wounds on the bulls this turn, and we move on to his
In combat, my eagle fails to wound his ironblaster, and he does likewise. However, he manages to pass his -3 break test, as well as his -3 test to reform!
Ogres, Turn 2
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This turn, with no timewarp in play, there's no doubts about it; Things are going to get pretty real next turn, one way or another. His troops move up to the optimal ogre charge range, while also making an elf charge unlikely.
His Firebelly moves out into hellheart range, and also to stop the charge from the swordmasters in the flank of the bulls.
Magic is 4 & 3 with a coven channel - 6 v 6
He throws all 6 at a fully powered fireball, but is dispelled by the coven.
In combat, he destroys my eagle with his ironblaster, and reforms to start taking potshots at flanks.
High Elves, Turn 3
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After my bust magic phase last turn, I'm faced with a choice - keep the mages in their bunkers and face the full brunt of the hellheart, or move them out and potentially get picked off by an ironblaster and maneaters. I choose the latter, because death by hellheart is almost a guarantee in their current position. I move the mages out to just beyond the 15" position, meaning he'll at least need to roll a 4+ to ruin my day completely.
The rest of my forces move up, now much more confident in their combat abilities with the ogre numbers reduced. The most serious combat unit gets redirected by an eagle.
Magic is 4 & 2 - I get 2 from the banner and 1 from the jewel for a total of 9 v 4.
He rolls for the hellheart and... gets a 3! It's just shy of my mages, and I'm now *only* faced with the risk of being shot to pieces.
I start with a 4D6 Banishment on his Ironblaster with my archmage - He dispels with his 4 dice
I then throw another 4D6 at Banishment with my level 2, and succeed! Boxcars for hits, and I think you can surmise the rest.
Finally, I throw one last dice at Pha's protection on the spears, hoping that they'll hold and protect my now vulnerable coven.
The Swordmasters kill the Firebelly and reform to face the approaching Maneaters.
Ogres, Turn 3
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His troops make the only charges they can, knowing that they can't weather any more banishments. Mournfangs on swordmasters, Guts on the redirecting eagle and bulls on the spears.
His sabretusk also moves up to redirect the swordmasters in the east, clearing the way for the Maneaters to take potshots at the coven.
Magic is 6 & 4, with no channels on either side
He powers up a toothcracker on 4D6 and promptly casts it with irresistable force. The resulting miscast drains the rest of the magic phase and does a wound to the Slaughtermaster.
In combat, the mournfangs do three hits, resulting in two wounds - boy are these guys less fearsome in smaller numbers! The swordmasters manage the 4 remaining wounds on the unit, despite the +1 T, and they reform to face the guts in the middle.
The bulls vs. spears doesn't go so hot. Wounding on 6's is rough, however he's unable to break steadfast this turn, and Pha's keeps his attacks from getting out of hand. The spears stick around.
High Elves, Turn 4
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I blow the dragonhorn to protect myself from the upcoming fear tests.
The combo is lined up, I'd be a fool not to take it - Lions, Lions and Swordmasters charge in on the guts. Swordmasters in the East take out their redirecting sabretusk.
Magic is 6 & 3, with The banner producing 1 and 1 for the jewel, resulting in 11 v 6
I start with a 4D6 banishment on the maneaters - I roll high, and he allows it, fearing the combat buffs in the key combat for this game. 5 hits result in 4 wounds - nothing spectacular, but I'll take it.
I then cast a 2D6 speed of light on the white lions, in the hopes that I can reduce the incoming damage should I whiff my attacks. He dispels this with 3, wanting to maintain his ability to hit on 3's with his Slaughtermaster.
I follow that up with a 4D6 Timewarp, which he fails to dispel, and a successful D6 pha's on the lions.
Shooting sees my archers put out a stellar round, forcing a panic test on the maneaters and them failing it.
In combat... well, it's not pretty. 33 white lions attacks and 12 swordmaster attacks absolutely wreck the gut unit, leaving only the characters behind. Much to my bemusement, I forget about the crown of command I wrote into the list, and the BSB sticks around preventing my expected overrun into the bulls and leaving my coven vulnerable next turn.
The spears, expectedly, take a thrashing but pass their -3 break test. At this point my opponent conceeds the match, knowing that there isn't much left on the field to turn the battle.
After Battle Thoughts
Luck definitely played a bit of a role here - namely some good rolls on banishment, and the hellheart failing to catch my coven. That thing had me sweating buckets! However, I think this is a great game to illustrate the point that many Ogre players are making about the hellheart; given that it is based on a D6 roll, it really does have a very random nature. Being able to put it on a cheap hero is a smidge over the top, but it requires careful positioning to get to well placed mages and then has the potential to be a complete waste. Having it do nothing is a tough pill to swallow when you're banking on it to shut down a magic phase.
My turn 2 magic phase miscast couldn't have happened at a worse time - I needed the rest of that phase to take out that hellheart, and instead I got a bunch of wounded mages. After this turn, had that hellheart rolled a 4+ for distance, this could have been a very, very different game.
I think my opponent could have been more aggressive with his guts in the first couple turns as well - they were stubborn with the BSB in the unit, and could be used as an anvil to set up some counter charges with the other combat blocks.
So this is my first battle report post here on Warseer, so I'd love to hear feedback from all you players of other armies about what you see being the key threats to this list - I'm always striving to improve on it, and would love to hear your thoughts.
D
If you'd like to read the report with imbedded pictures, feel free to check out the report in my thread over on ulthuan here
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Originally Posted by SiNNiX
