2500 Strigoi VC vs. BM Meeting Engagement

[meowser]

*** updated with post game thoughts ***

Pic Album: in-text references to come http://imgur.com/a/SMh6B
in chronological order

VC Army [meows0r]

Strigoi Ghoul King (Red Fury, Dragonbane Gem, 2+A Sword, Dispel Scroll) [SGK] {IoN}
Master Necromancer (L4W, LotV, MotD, Power Stone) [MN] {IoN,VDM,RD,CoY}

Vampire (LoD,Quickblood,Fear Incarnate,HA,SH,Dragonhelm,Warrior Bane, Cursed Book) [V] {CoL}
Cairn Wraith [CW]
Necromancer (LoD, Staff of Channeling) [N] {SL}

30 Ghouls {CG}
24 Skeletons FC screaming banner {SW}
20 Zombies std mu {Z}
2 x 5 Dire Wolves {DR}

1 Corpse Cart {CC}
8 Crypt Horrors {CH}
5 Hexwraiths {HW}
3 x 1 Spirit Hosts {SH}

1 Terrorgheist {TG}


BM Army [Skewbert]

BL (ASF Blade, OTS, US, AoD)
GBS (L4, LoS, ToP, JD, SC, ICI)

BSB (GH,HA,SH,BB)
BS1 (LoS, HS)
BS2 (LoS, DS)
BS3 (LoS, CoC, SoS)

35 Gor
35 Gor
10 Ungor
2 x 5 Unbows

2 x 5 Harpies {H}
2 x 1 Razorgor {RG}
~30 Bestigor (FC) {BG}

2 Chaos Spawn {CS}

DEPOLYMENT:
BM deploy first. His Bestigor, BSB, a Bray Shaman, and unbow unit are in reserve. The former 2 matter a lot, and hamper his early advance
VC Deployment: My skeletons and some chaff are left in reserves. The skeletons in reserve really hurt, and that's many early turns of them not being grown by my Master of the Dead. I plan to bring the chaff on the east and send them at his PD battery

VC PLAN:
- Use CH to hold up the west while I let fearbomb skellies get in position and get grown to a size where they wont crumble against the primal fury beastmen.
- Plan *WAS* to use chaff, Hexwraiths, and Terrorgheist to shut down the PD factory ASAP.
- The house in the middle will make excellent cover for the MN Z bunker and CC, and a good position to support units fighting on either side of it.

BM Turn 1

MOVEMENT:
- east H charge DR2 [I forgot to check arc during Vanguard, don’t really care]
- GBS-GORS into central building
- BSB into BL-GORS
- BG come on east of BL-GORS, behind central building
- Unbows come on in southeast woods, near HS
- BS comes on next to HS
- west CS moves towards CH
- east CS moves to east of central building

MAGIC:

- 4,5, 1 channel for VC, 12-6
- Pendulum on MN on 19, scrolled
- Pit on centre if ghouls on 1+2+6+6+6, scatters 2”, 11 hit
- 3 gors die from miscast
- 1 dice miasma on dogs dispelled

COMBAT:
- Harpies kill 3 dogs, no hits back, crumble

VC Turn 1:

MOVEMENT:
- HW charge house, terror passed
- CH into harpies

MAGIC:
-1,3, channel 1, 5v3
- 5,6,6 on 6: IoN, 11 zombs, ghouls back to max
- miscast 8: wound on all wiz, 2 dice lost

COMBAT:
- shaman doesnt fight, 2 gor die, passes break on 9 w reroll
- ASF CH kill harps w poison alone

BM Turn 2:

MOVEMENT:
- East H charge DR2 [got im being sloppy about ignoring his chaff]
- Gor and spawn in CH
- BG into TG
- West RG flanks CH

MAGIC:
- 2,3 becomes 10-4
- maisma on TG let off, WS1
- 4-dice pendulum on MN, N on 14, i try to dispel with 3 and 1,1,3, necro hero dies, kills 1 hex, 3 zomb, all 6 ghoul pass, 1 harp dies,
- -3T Withering on TG

COMBAT:
- harps fail fear, kill 1 dog, dogs do nothing back, 2 crumble, 2 left
- TG fluffs, kills 2 w stomp
- CH down to 2 models, no wounds on chars, spawn dead

VC Turn 2:

MOVEMENT:
- Hexwraiths 2W on house gors
- Ghouls with SGK, Wriath, Vamp hero into BG, SH into BG
- SH into Harps

MAGIC:
-5-4. FML
- book eats 3 to miasma generals unit for -1WS. F. M. L.
- Power stone. 12” IoN on 13, isnt dispelled w 4 dice, 15 zombs, heals all chars, hexwraiths, 2 full CH (lore att). Pivotal and huge

COMBAT:
- CH put 1 wound on BSB, kill some RNF, only take 2 wounds, crumble another 2
- SGK kills 5 including RF, vamp kills 2, wraith fluffs, Ghouls kill 3
- I forget fear bomb, or he passes twice/bsb is nulled
- BG lose by 3, fail break test by 1
- SH kills 1 harpie, harpie kills dog, harpies break, run down, both pursue

BM Turn 3:

MOVEMENT:
- RG charges HW and not CH flank, I dont question it....
- BG barely rally
- unbows move up to pepper lone DR
- RG moves to redirect ghoul star and block unit (but not solo hero...) charge on building

MAGIC:
- 5,5 becomes 12-6. ugh
- pendulum off on 21 through front rank of ghoul star. let it off, 1 ghoul dies. wraith fails I test but is not wounded
- 5 dice mindrazor IFs on generals unit. rolls a 7 for second time this game, 2 gor die

SHOOTING:
- lone doggie survives single hit from unbows

COMBAT:
- Mindrazor beast banner gors with BSB and BL wipe out Crypt Horrors. Only second time I[‘ve had that happen, other time was bret dual charge

VC Turn 3:

MOVEMENT:
- SGK charges house solo
- CW charges piggie who flees 7”
- SH charge piggie, flee them through ungor bunker
- SH charge unbow needing 11+, get 8, they hold
- Z reform to horde


MAGIC:
- 7-5. meh but best yet
- CB eats a dice for miasma, -3WS on GBS-GORS
- 4 dice CoY on GBS-GORS, scroll of shielding, lore attribute heals SGK
- 2 dice VDM on HW dispelled w 5 dice

COMBAT:
- Hexwraiths eat piggie
- SGK kills 6 with red fury, but GBS-GORS hold on LD9 stubborn rerollable

BM Turn 4:

MOVEMENT:
- BL-BSB-GOR into HW
- BG into SH
- RG flees off table
- GBS-GOR leave table

MAGIC:
- 3,3 becomes 10-4. nagash help me!
- Curse of Years dispelled w 3 dice. now 7-4
- Pit of shades on cart scatters JUST past MN as butthole clenches. Only 3 of my lighting-fast zombies die it
- 4-dice Mindrazor on BSB-BL-GORS goes on 19, which i dispel on 19. whoa

SHOOTING
- 1 ghoul is killed. Oh the humanity!

COMBAT:
- BG barely pass fear test vs HW, HW fluff and only kill 1 gor, cant finish off bsb, and crumble. reform to face cart
- Host cant dent gors and crumbles. they overrun into wraith

VC Turn 4:
- I notice an SH in the southwest I had totally forgotten about! DERP!

MOVEMENT:
- SH charge unbows, who flee
- SH into shaman gor rear. IDK why, stupid, should have saved them for combo charge

MAGIC:
- 2,1. **** my (un)life.
- Book eats 1 (risky! but yay) -2T withering on Bestigors
- 2 dice IoN dispelled

COMBAT:
- Wriath is a failbag and only does 1W to the T2 bestigor. Crumbles, they overrun into ghouls
- GBS makes way to SH, gets 3A total and PF
- SH puts on a wound on GBS

BM Turn 5:

MOVEMENT:
- BL-BSB-GOR charge Skeletons.on
- Unbows continue to flee 7”
- Ungor bunker moves up to support BG
- BG sit back, not wanting to charge Ghouls and SGK while at T2

MAGIC:
- 3,3 becomes 10-3
- boosted miasma on ghouls on 3 dice 12, dispelled with all my dice
- 2 dice weak miasma lowers ghoul and sgk init by 2
- pit on 4 dice on ghouls, scatters and hit gen and 2 ghouls
- butthole clenches and only 2 ghouls die
- last dice miasmas my skeletons to WS1, and vamp to -3WS

COMBAT:
- BL-BSB-GOR versus fearbomb vamp and skeletons, fearbomb works!
- Vampire makes way, kills BSB. No more beast banner!
- BL puts a wound on Vampire, Gors kill him
- Skels kills a gor, tie combat
- Gors reform
Bovu

VC Turn 4:

MOVEMENT:
- Corpse Cart into gors
- Ghouls into BG

MAGIC:
-9v6
- 3 dice 6” IoN, dispelled w 4
- 3 dice bubble VDM gets off, ASF and rerolls on ALL the things
- last 3 on IoN from SGK, heals 2 ghouls and 2 dogs

COMBAT:
- BG fail fear
- Bestichamp challenged SGK, overkill by 2
- Ghouls kill 4
- BG kill 4 back
- BG lose by 4, in general range, hold on 5 needed
- BL-GORS vs skels
- 5 impact hits to 3 wounds
- BG get PF, pass fearbomb (no more forcing re roll tho from vamp)
- skel champ challenges BL, he accepts, killed and full +3 overkill
- cart corpsemaster fluffs, 7A from cart
- Skels kill 2 gor
- Gors kill 3 skel
- skels crumble by 3

BM Turn 6:

MOVEMENT:
- ungor bunker into SH flank. god im sloppy, thats 3 static CR to deal with! (2 if i get 1 kil...)
- raiders rally on a 6. 30 pts lost

MAGIC:
- 3,3 becomes 9,3. bring on the pits
- L4 tries big miasma on zombies, fails with 1,1,2. YES!
- 3 dice small WS miasma on skels for -1WS
- last 4 dice for big miasma on SH on 15, but L4 gets 15 on 3 dice and dispels it

COMBAT:
- host kills 2 ungors to tie, i reform to front
- bestis just pass fear on a 9 (need that AoDM!)
- SGK kills 4, ghouls kill another 4, 2 are left, which kill a ghoul each
- They break, I reform (kinda dumb, but i have an idea...)
- BL-GOR fail PF, pass fear
- BL kills 2 skels
- Corpsemaster does a wound, cart does another, skels kill another
- Gors only kill 1 skelly! wound on cart is regend
- Gors lose by 2 (1 more rank, flank) and break on 9!
- Gors flee 8, cart catches them on an 8!
- Opponent concedes

*** VC post game thoughts ***
- In general, I played this game rather sloppy, and felt lucky to pull off the win.
- My opponent made some critical mistakes as well, such as not sending the GBS into combat with HW when they charged him in a building, and not repositioning them in the late game.
- I was far too sloppy with my chaff, including needlessly exposing my DR to Harpies and Ungor Raiders, and throwing away my SH on the Shaman's unit
- I also didn't use the Terrorgheist effectively
- Related to the above, my original plan was to use all my chaff and TG to take down his power dice factory by turn 3 at the latest, and that never happened
- VC and magic domination: my opponent never had less than 9 PD, and always at least 6 more PD than me. He did roll well. My best magic phase was a 9-6 (Turn 5, last I got), and I never had more than 2 PD over his DD other than that phase. VC don't need magic domination to win. You just need to squeeze off 1 LotV spell a turn with a well positioned corpse cart to make the phase count.

*** VC list considerations ***
- SGK: love him, will never leave him
- Fearbomb vampire: I didn't run him with a ward this time, but he doesnt really have points for it with cursed book and magic armour. I could drop him entirely if I had enough Lord pts to put FI on the SGK
- Master Necro: love him with the power stone. My default build
- Terrorgheist: didnt use him effectively, but hes not going anywhere
- Hexwraiths: still need practice with them to use them effectively. They can be quite underwhelming in combat
- Crypt Horrors: they are not invincible, and I didn't support them effectively this game, but they did hold up the Western side of the board and his S4 gors and general long enough for my reinforcement fearbomb skellies to get into position to guard the MN

*** BM list considerations ***
- I think he should run the BL-BSB Gors in horde, as well as the bestigor
- I think he invested too much in PD generation and protecting that. losing a shaman, the two spawn, and the ungor bunker could buy him a lot more punch