IzmirCon: Battle reps from the Tournament Pt 2

So to continue off from last article.. the second and third game from the tournament I was at over the last weekend of March.

To continue on..

Second game.. this one was interesting.. as it was the meeting in the pass scenario, and thus we played from the short edges instead of the long edges. 

This opponent was more of a beginner of the game, or at least that is what I was told. His list was ok, but not great. He was playing empire, and yet only had 1 warmachine.. 

From what I can remember, his list was:

• Arch lector
• BSB
• Lvl 4 Light Wizard
• Lvl 1 death wizard
• 30 Flaggelants
• 35 Great Swords
• 35 Halberdiers
• Steam Tank
• Great Cannon

For set up, he placed the steam tank and cannon behind the Temple of Skulls. Flags to my left, Halberds in the center with Light Wizard, and Great Swords on the right with Arch Lector, BSB, and Lvl 1 wizard. All units were in horde formation, which made it so that only one unit at a time could be seen per side. 

Learning from my previous game, I had tried my luck at focusing on one side versus the other. Placing all 3 of my NG units together, in column formation ( 5 wide, 10 deep ), and to one side of the Temple. Behind the hill, out of LOS, I hide both Arachnarok Spiders, and the Giant was the only thing visible on the left. 

Since this game was able to get in all its turns, I will try to explain the battle a bit more.

First turn was his, and he moved the Steam Tank up and to the right of the Temple. His Flags moved up also, and his Halberds went into column formation to the left of the Temple. He got off one of his Light spells, and I Dispelled his sniper Death spell. 

For my side, I moved all 3 NG units forward, releasing all 6 fanatics against the steam tank! However it only caused 2 wounds in total ( from 6d6 hits!!! ), but surrounded him in Fanatics, cutting off his avenues to move, and reducing his steam count to 2 from 4. On the left hand side, the Giant ran forward, once more being a roadbump/bait unit for the Flags on the left, while the 2 Spiders set up just behind him for counter charges.

Turn 2 saw his Steam tank move out of the ring of Fanatics, but nothing else. This time it blocked his death wizard from seeing my Heros, so no sniping this round. His Flags charged the giant, took 2 casualties, but fell the giant, who in turn fell on the Bright Blue Spider!!!! Thankfully it is a nimble spider and was able to not take any wounds, but it was overrun by the Flags still. The cannon also had no LOS to anything, and sat there waiting for the Spiders to be free of combat and able to be fired on. Magic saw little effect, with the attempts to heal the steam tank foiled by dispel dice. 

For my turn, the Shaman mounted Spider joined into the fight against the Flags, and between them, they destroyed the 28 Flags that were left in 1 round between them. Taking but 1 wound in return! Instead of overrunning just the one of them however, they stayed put and turned to meet what was left of the Halberds. Halberds who had been hit by the bad moon vortex spell, and lost 19 to its character test. But they stayed the course and held their ground. On the right hand side, the NGs units backed up a bit, and prepared for either a frightening charge from the Steam Tank or a counter charge from 3 units!!!

Turn 3, This saw the cannon getting to take its only shot for the game! And it was a direct hit on the Arachnarok with Shaman!!! However he rolled the ill fated 1 to damage, and the Shaman cried out that he would have his revenge for even attempting to take his life! The magic phase was again uneventful, however the steam tank had finally received a wound back from the Light Wizard, and the death still had no LOS to the goblin Heros. 

For my turn, I attempted to charge the halberds with my Shaman, but they turned tail and ran, making me move only 2 inches. So the second spider marched up towards it to chase it off the board later. The NGs on the right seeing that the tank was severely crippled ( ok well 1 wound and not doing much ) decided to chance it all and charge it! This turned out to be a good idea, as all 3 units made the charge ( after passing their animosity rolls once more for what was the 6th time in the tournament!!! ) and tied up the steam tank for the remainder of the game. Causing 1 more wound to it, through sheer numbers more than anything else. Magic also saw the revenge that the Goblin Shaman spoke of, and killed the cannon outright with his Vindictive Glare!!! The empire player regretting not trying to dispel that spell now. 

Turn 4, saw the Halberds failing to rally, and the Great swords getting nervous. The light wizard also began to climb the temple of Skulls to get a better chance of helping the steam tank (ST) who was now locked in combat. 

While the NGs tied up the ST in combat, and causing no wounds, but still winning combat, the Bright blue Spider chased, and cut down the Halberds. The Shaman moved his mount to the top of the Temple of skulls and began to cry down at the Great Swords.. letting them know their death is nigh!! Meanwhile the vortex continued to fly around, and at this time was beginning to harrass the NG units more than anyone else, but they still survived and stuck around for more punishment. 

Turn 5 saw very little happen aside from some magic, and more healing on the ST. 

The Shaman charged into the Great Sword unit. With everyone holding GW, including characters, the Spider got to use his special attack against the Arch Lector! Not just hitting him, but creating a crater where the poor man once stood! From here, there were many more deaths, and the Spider won combat by 2 in the end. the other spider began to move itself into a better position to charge the Great Swords to assist the Shaman. The NGs continued to hammer on the ST, causing a few more wounds, now putting it at 5 wounds down, and not letting it hit back at all. Reducing what feeble hit it was causing to be even less. 

Turn 6 saw the Great Swords taking more deaths, including the death Wizard, however the great spider was also removed, and the Shaman broke and ran.. running through his own vortex!!! Thankfully he was at full wounds, and was still around to cast more magic later on. The light wizard at this time was just trying to hide from the Goblins Shaman and his Vindictive glare. 

In a final act of defiance, the Bright blue spider charged the Great swords.. killing more in the process, however dying in the process as well. The Shaman attempted to Vindictive glare the light wizard once more, but he survived with but 1 wound left in the end. 

Final score saw victory for the Goblins, defeat for the Empire, and a con fuddled mess for the players. 

Overall the game was good, but I wonder how my opponent felt about the game. Numerous times we had to repeat ourselves as the other could not hear ( usually my case ) or understand due to language barrier. The game itself went along at a decent speed, but I think that was due to both sides having so few units, and with Magic being stopped with miscasts or dispel dice. If I were to play against him again, I would try to help him make a better list, or at least give him some hints on how to play his list better. Such as bunkering down and back near the bane stone on his side. It could have helped him a bit, especially if we got into combat in that area and he received the +1 to wound against the spiders.