Battle Report,: Beastmen vs. Bretonnians, 2500 Points

I had the pleasure of playing a game against my friend Erik last weekend, and he went on to write a great battle report on the Brohammer Forums.  I've copied it below:

I played a game with my Brets this past weekend! My friend Ben came over and he brought his beastmen army with him. We played a 2500 game and decided to just play straight battleline.

My Army:
1 Bretonnian Lord
General, Heavy Armour; Knightly Vow,Virtue of Heroism (1st) [40.0],Dragonbane Gem [5.0]
Sword of Swift Slaying [25],Enchanted Shield [10.0]
1 Hippogryph @ [200.0] Pts

1 Prophetess level 3 Lore of Heavens
Crown of Command,
1 Warhorse

1 Paladin Battle Standard Bearer
Heavy Armour; Battle Standard Bearer; Knightly Vow
Warrior Bane [5.0],Gromril Great Helm [30.0]
1 Warhorse

1 Damsel of the Lady @ 110.0 Pts
Lore of Beasts
Silver Mirror [40.0]
1 Warhorse @ [0.0] Pts

1 Damsel of the Lady @ 155.0 Pts
Magic Level 2; Lore of Beasts
Ruby Ring of Ruin [25.0],Chalice [15]
1 Warhorse @ [0.0] Pts

CORE
10 Knights of the Realm (Lvl3+ BSB go here)
W/FC+ Standard of Discipline
8 Knights of the Realm w/FC
5 Grail Knights
Standard; Musician, Banner of the Eternal Flame [10.0]
17 Peasant Bowmen +Std, Mus, Braizers
20 Peasant Bowmen + FC; Braizers

4 Pegasus Knights +FC
2x Field Trebs

His List (approximate)
1-Beast lord with magic weapon and magic wardsave+ Crown of Command
1-BSB Wargor with beast banner (unit gets +1 Str)
1-Level 4 Great Bray with Lore of Death
2x Lvl1 bray Shaman lore of shadow
1- Lvl1 Shaman lore of beasts

45 Gor extra hand weapon (BSB and General in this one
2x 24 Bestigors (Lvl 4 in one of these)
1x 25 Ungor (all three lvl1¡¦s go here next to the shard of the herdstone (all wiz within ¡§6 gain +1 power die)
1x beast chariot
2x Razorgor
So he had a huge unit of gors with General and BSB in it. That unit was +! Str and the general had crown of Command, it wasn¡¦t going anywhere!

Here is a picture that will show my deployment and after the Beasts move up on T1:


It is blurry but you can see where things are I think. From my right flank I have a unit of 20 bowman on the hill (had to use goblins, hahah not finished with my brets yet!) and right behind them you can see the General on Hippo). Next to them are the 8 realms with the lvl1 beast mage. Next are the 10 realms with the BSB and Lvl3. A unit of 17 bowmen with the lvl2 beast mage is next. The Peg knights vanguarded forwards and behind them, on the extreme left flank you can see my small unit of grails deployed in a line. My trebs are well back in my backfield and spaced roughly equal distance across the back.

The hills were all normal. The forest in the middle ended up being a fungus forest, but it didn¡¦t make a difference. There was an Elven waystone on the right flank near to his side, but it also did not come into play. The river is normal but no one ever got in it The piece of terrain that was the most important was the ruins on his side next to his ungors and the wizards. That granted frenzy to any unit within 6¡¨. That meant that I couldn¡¦t panic him off the board with a treb shot. Drats!
His deployment was (starting from my right flank again) Razorgor, chariot, unit of 24 Bestigors with Lvl4 death Shaman, huge unit of gor with Gen and BSB, herdstone shard there is the terrain piece and right beside that is the unit of 25 ungor with the 3x lvl1 shaman. Right in front of them is the second unit of Bestigor. You can¡¦t see it, but he has his second razorgor on the extreme left flank (at the top out of the picture.

T1-I of course prayed! So Beasts get to go first. I van-guard moved my Peg knights straight forward up the left flank. He basically moves everything up, keeps his chariot slightly back (alongside the bestigor block). He debuffed my peg knights with Shadow which I let go since I didn¡¦t plan to charge with them next turn. I dispelled his hex on the large knight block (he was trying to lower Int to throw a purple sun through there!) and when he casts purple sun I dispel with the silver mirror, causing a wound on the Lvl4.

A Bret's eye view of the advancing horde!


T1-Brets- I move my peg knights forward 20¡¨ and face the flank of his ungors while staying out of the charge arc of any of his units. I move my grails up on the left flank to protect the treb and threaten the advancing bestigors on the left flank. I fly the Hippo Lord out to the right flank to make it uncomfortable for him to advance. The other knight units backup some because I don¡¦t want to rush that large combat coming my way! Magic is decent with some buffs, but nothing major gets through. The lvl2 on foot fails to cast transformation :> I had chain lighting, 1st hex spell (-1 to hit and ld), and Uranon¡¦s thunderbolt on the Lvl3.

Shooting was a whole different matter! Both trebs landed direct hits on the right Bestigor unit. I killed around 15 or so. **We did the template wrong, we used a direct hit only touching 9 models. It should have been 15 models on 25mm bases touched on a direct hit. Even still, it was devastating! Trebs are nasty like the devil in 8th!

T2-Beasts: Time for revenge. He moves up with just about everything. The right razorgor charges the small Realms. He took some wounds the turn before from the bowmen and he takes another on the way in. They finish him in combat so I won¡¦t talk about that one again. He reforms the ungors to face the peg knights. He moves the left razorgor to face the rear of the peg knights.


His magic is powerful! He gets off fate of Bhjuna IF on hippo lord. He rolls like a gangbuster and gets 6 hits. Three of them wound. I need to make a single 6+ ward to stay alive. I don¡¦t and the gen dies on top of T2! The Hippo passes his reaction test and holds fast. He rolls up a 4 on the miscast table and proceeds to kill even more of the bestigor unit while sucking himself into the warp. I¡¦ll take that trade!
Here you can see the depleted Bestigor unit and the hippo looking at them hungrily before my turn!


T2-Brets: I charge the peg knights into the rear of the left Bestigors. I should have waited and been patient, but I felt like I could seize a big advantage if the Grails could roll well enough to get a supporting charge in on the flank of the same unit. The grails also charged. They needed a ten and had to go through a forest, but it was doable. The pegs made it but the grails failed. Rut-roh. :> I charged the Hippo into the remains of the other bestigor unit. They held. I then moved my lvl2 on foot out of the bowmen unit and to safety while I moved the bowmen unit in front of the huge gor unit as a sacrifice to buy me some time. The magic phase is uniteresting again but I do manage to get off a hex on the Gor unit (didn¡¦t make much difference). Shooting sees one treb misfire and can¡¦t shoot for this turn or the next. The next one lands a partial on the ungors and kills about 10 or so, but they are still stubborn so no panic test.

In combat the Hippo takes 2 wounds while eating the bestigor unit. I restrain overrun. The pegs do well and kill several bestigor and only take 2 wounds back. They win combat handily with the carge+ rear bonus, but the bestigor are stubborn on a reroll and they easily hold. They reform to face the Pegs¡K this is bad.

T3-Beasts- The huge Gor unit charges my sacrificial bowmen unit. The chariot charges my bowmen on the hill. His razorgor on the left flank moves up to threaten the grails. Magic is easier to defend now that his Lvl4 is gone, but that herd stone is kicking my butt by giving him +3 extra dice per turn. He gets some buffs on his gor herd. They burn right through the bowmen of course :> They decide to combat reform to take my lances head-on next turn. The bestigors are now getting supporting attacks and the peg knights didn¡¦t charge. They also got hexed by his magic. I knew they were going to die so I let that go in order to stop some other spells. Predictably, the bestigor tee off on the defenseless peg knights and slughter the unit down to 1 Peg. I break and he doesn¡¦t pursue,(knowing that a single knight from 4 can¡¦t rally) and opts for a combat reform to face my knights (offering the grails a flank charge.) The chariot gets nowhere with the bowmen on the hill and stays in combat.

T3-Brets. I have nowhere else left to retreat so I sound the charge with the large Realms with BSB. I move my other realm knights around to a flanking position on the huge gor unit (I don¡¦t know that his lord has the Crown yet). The grails take the offered flank and make it this time. I did lose one knight on the way in to dangerous terrain though. So 4 grails into the flank of about 17 bestigor. I move the Hippo to the hill in his deployment zone, but facing the rear of his units. (I think this is a mistake looking back. I should have moved to threaten the ungor unit and the wizards. I didn¡¦t know that the general had the crown at that point and I figured I would need all the help I could get in wittling that huge unit down to break steadfast.) I get off Iceshards on the Gor unit this turn which is nice. The treb that can shoot tries to hit the ungors in the back but misses.

Combat sees the grails do what grail knights do, kill a lot of stuff on the charge. I take no wounds back and win by a large amount. Doesn¡¦t matter though, he is still stub on a 9 from the general and he passes the test. He also passes the test to reform and now is facing me Drat! Supporting attacks are coming next turn along with a rear charge by pumba! It ain¡¦t looking good for the home team! I slam his unit of gors with the big lance and do a lot of wounds. My BSB kills his BSB which is a huge bonus! He decides not to make way with his general this turn (I guess because he doesn¡¦t want charging brets to attack him-probably smart). I lose no knights back! I am on fire with armor saves so far tonight. I win the combat by a huge margin, but doesn¡¦t matter as he passes his stub 8(because of the hex) check easily. Darn!
No more pictures. ƒ¼ Sorry, I forgot after this turn, but I think you know where everything is now.

T4 Beasts: He charges the rear of the grails with razorgor and makes the charge. Don¡¦t remember what magic did. Not much. The grails directed all their attacks at the razorgor. They did manage to do three wounds and kill it (thereby eliminating at LEAST +3 combat res) but bestigors with GW¡¦s and primal fury made sure that there were no grails left to savor the good fortune. The bestigors reform to go around the large gor unit and take on the lance of unengaged knights. Even with his general making way this turn, I win combat again against the big Gor unit. He makes another Stub 8 check and we move to

Bret T4: I STILL don¡¦t know he has the crown on the beastlord yet since he has been steadfast up until this point. I charge the realm knights into the Gors. This turn I should get them below steadfast! I move the Hippo to threaten the ungors. The trebs shoot at the bestigor unit. Both miss.
Magic: I get the hex off on his unit of gors. The realms are +1 St +1 t also. The combat goes exactly how it should. I kill a ton of gors and win by a large amount. The general does take out 2 of my Realms knights from the BSB¡¦s unit, but it isn¡¦t enough. Alright! He no longer has more ranks than I do and I won combat. That is when he tells me he has the crown, hahaha I should have totally known it of course, but I didn¡¦t. He makes another stub 8 check and we move on.

T5 Beats: He charges the flank of the smaller Knights with his bestigors. He moves his wizards out of the ungor unit (that will be eaten by the Hippo) and also manages to keep all 3 out of LOS of the Hippo-smart move! The game is set now. It all depends on this combat. I kill a decent amount of gor again and he kills a few knights. I got lucky because the flanking unit of Bestigors failed its PF test, that made a HUGE difference. I lose combat, but pass my tests.

T5 Brets: I charge the ungors with the Hippo, they die. I shoot both trebs at the wizards (they are all huddled up :>) and get one direct hit. Kill one of ¡¥em and wound the other 2. Sweet! I get a good round of magic and I have extra dice left after I cast all the spells I wanted to. I decide to cast chain lightning on the wizards. I use 4 dice and of course it comes up IR. I get no wounds on the wizards with my dice (horrible rolls) and then I roll up a 4 for miscast. Kill 5 knights and suck the Lvl3 into the warp GAHH!! Oh well, it happens :> The combat is now on the beast¡¦s terms. I am no longer stubborn either, now that the Lvl3 is dead. He wins combat and my BSB¡¦s unit breaks, but my other realm unit holds on a 3! The BSB is dead and that unit flees off the table. The game is now firmly in his grasp.

T6-Beasts: nothing of note other than my realm knights finally break, but get away, denying him VP.

T6 Brets Game over. The beasts have won the day. Even though I have very few units on the board there was only a difference of around 300 VP total. The hippo was still alive (and thus no VP for Gen other than the +100 VP for killing him), the realm knights were still there with a lvl1. Both trebs and a bowman unit still around.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed playing the Brets! The beasts are a good matchup for my army. In this particular battle I should have known that the Beast lord had the stubborn crown. I have to think it is in just about every army (except VC, TK, DoC) and that is where it should have been. I made several very big tactical mistakes during the game. I should have pressured the ungors with wizards right away with the hippo (after I ate the depleted Bestigors of course). Instead, I wasted a turn with useless manuvering. I think being more patient with the peg knights would have paid off big dividends. Getting a combo charge is crucial to locking units down with smaller flanking units. Otherwise you win-they don't care- they reform and beat you to death in round 2!

Miscasts inside of knight units can be HORRIBLE! I think the dominant market strategy will be Lvl4 with life (for vines) as miscast protection. I was using a strange combo for my lord choices because I wanted to use the HippoLord. Lvl3 of life isn't good enough, I don't like Life with anything less than a Lvl4. There may even be some options of running 2 Lvl4's (life and heavens) at 2500+ pts. Probably it would be more efficient to use a Lvl4 and 2 Lvl2's instead though. I'll have to look at it. I know that Wyssan's Wildform is an awesome spell that really works well with our army. You should probably have at least one of those in each list!

I didn't miss the General's leadership in the middle of the table really. The BSB is extremely durable and with his re-rolls, Ld 8 (or 9 even with a Banner of Disc) is good for most everything. The HippoGryph is not an optimal choice in 8ed. i think everyone knows that. Not that it can't do well for you, it can! It is just not the most efficient use of points imo. The blessing save extending to the mount really shines in this application. Otherwise it would be ultra vunerable and almost not worth even considering.

There are sooo many combos available for heros/lords. I have only begun to stratch the surface. I look forward to exploring all the various builds! I really want to do a RAF styled army, but I am having trouble visualizing how it will work on the battlefield in this ed. I may still do one since I love the models (and have them painted!)

I haven't even started thinking about peasant heavy builds. Without them we surely struggle with watchtower scenario.

Read more: http://www.brohammer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=251&page=1#ixzz1IY58CigC

Video Battle Report: 2,250 Bretonnians vs. High Elves

We now resume our regularly scheduled programming!  Last week got crazy, with overtime at work, an extended interview, two 4th of July cookouts at our house, and a Warhammer Fantasy tournament.  Luckily, I took some pictures of some of my games on the way.

As promised, I'm breaking out my old armies for a last run around the 7th Edition track.  Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of playing Collins's High Elves with my Bretonnians.  My Brets haven't seen light in a year or so, and it was a lot of fun to give them a whirl.  Take a look to see how it went!

The 7th Edition Farewell Tour

As Seventh Edition of Warhammer Fantasy winds down, I'd like to give each of my armies a final run around the table before things change.  The plan is at least three games before Eighth comes out, with each of my armies. 

So we'll have to dig the Bretonnians out of storage.  The plan is to run each of my old fun builds, so probably I'll dig out the nights and just try and steamroll a table like the old days.

Next, we'll grab the Dark Elves.  I'd like to run them with the Black Guard, and maybe give Steve the Black Dragon a flight or two across the table.  They're a tough group, and I want them to have some fun before they get arguably better in the next edition. 

Finally, the Beasts.  They're my newest babies, and I've had plenty of opportunity to play them, but it'd be great to get them out one more time and have them eat some fleshy weaklings. 

Watch for the Video Battle Reports coming soon as I take the Seventh Edition Farewell Tour!

The Quiet Limit of the World is "The Trader of the Week" at The Trading Post!

Whooo!  For those of you who aren't familiar with "The Trading Post" http://the-tradingpost.blogspot.com/, it's a blog that serves as a great hub for other Warhammer Fantasy blogs.  This week, The Quiet Limit is featured as "The Trader of the Week"!  I've copied the interview, and hope you enjoy it!


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Again we have another Fantasy blog up for promotion.  This is good old blog, lots of content - especially about Beastmen.  Go check it out folks:

http://quietlimit.blogspot.com/

The Interview

Real name or Avatar
My real name is Ben, and I use the moniker of "Tekore" on forums.  I'm based in Durham, North Carolina, in the United States.  Other occasional contributors are Blair and Tom.

What fantasy army(ies) do you play?
I have around 8,000 points each of Bretonnians and Dark Elves, and am currently playing Beastmen in their latest incarnation.
 

Beastlordette?

What projects are you currently working on?
I run the Tale of Painters over at Librarium Online, and usually have a lot of different projects brewing at the same time.  I believe that by running multiple projects you can paint regularly without becoming bored or burning out as much. Currently, I'm painting:

* Around 5,000 points of Beastmen
* A 2,000 point Imperial Fist Space Marine army.
* 100 points of Khador for Warmachine.
* 100 points of Trollbloods for Hordes.
* Various Malifaux gangs.

I recently finished my entire Dark Elf army, and always have Bretonnians to paint if I get bored.  I'm looking to finish my Imperial Fists, Trollbloods, and Khador in the next few months, and am considering taking on a Blood Angels / Space Wolves dual army project after finishing.  For Fantasy, I'm not sure what I'll work on after Beasts, but am thinking about a joint High Elves / Wood Elves Avelorn themed army.

Barbarian hero

What is the main focus of your blog?
When I created The Quiet Limit of the World, I wanted it to show aspects of all aspects of the hobby.  I love to model and convert, to paint and bring those models to life, and to game in both casual and tournament settings.  A lot of blogs only focus on one of those things, and while they are all interesting, I like a little bit of everything.  I'm also interested in a lot of different games, so I flit around there as well.  So I suppose The Quiet Limit doesn't have a main focus, but is rather a general blog on the hobby. 

What are we to expect in the future from your blog?
I'm going to strive for continued quality and quantity.  I like to try and update every weekday morning if possible with something fresh and new.  I'd also like to get more battle reports in, as it's an area that I'm not particularly good at.  2011 also is supposedly the Flames of War year coming up at the Friendly Local Game Store, so there may be some of that coming up. 

What/who is your biggest inspiration?
In terms of painting and modeling, I've always looked up to a few gentlemen over at Librarium Online.  I draw inspiration from several of the contributors there who have beautiful models, such as Minus_t, King Ulrik Flamebeard, and Andusciassus, and also from Cyric the Mad, who ran the first Tale of Painters and taught me to actually get projects done.

 Vargulf alert!

 In terms of playing the game, I draw inspiration from the players at my local gaming club, The Team Caribbean Breeze Women's Lacrosse and Warhammer Club (it's a long story).  We've got national GT winners and brand new players, but I think the general spirit of good sporting competitiveness is the thing that keeps me wanting to play each week.  To play as hard a game as you can every time and still have a fun, laughing game is a real pleasure.

What is your number one hobby tip?
Just do it.  Trite?  Absolutely, but true nonetheless.  The only way you'll improve with painting is with practice, and the same goes for green stuff and every other aspect of making your army look good.  Don't be afraid to make mistakes.  They're fixable, and you can always strip your miniatures if you're really unhappy.  Make some time to sit down and paint most days, if only for five or ten minutes.  You'll improve as a hobbyist, and you'll have the joy of actually seeing your army progress. 

Dark Elves Army

What is your number one gaming tip?
Don't be a jerk.  We're (generally) a bunch of grown folk playing a child's game.  Don't roll over if your opponent is cheating, but other than that, relax and have a good time, reveling in the great social experience that wargaming could be.  I've gotten to travel around and play a ton of people that I never would have met otherwise due to Warhammer, and it's been a real pleasure.  Don't soil the experience by turning your hobby into an unpleasant jaunt for you and your opponent. 

What is your proudest moment in wargaming?
I have a lot of tournament wins, but the tournaments I remember the best are the ones where I've gotten the very highest sportsmanship scores and painting scores.  Those are the days that I know I'm at the top of the hobby fully.  I especially enjoy when I'm put down as someone's favorite opponent of the day at a tournament.  It's a great feeling.
 

Dark Elf Dreadlord

 

If you could have a miniature made for a character or unit that does not currently have one, which would it be?
I've always thought a Crone Hellebron model for the Dark Elves would be a cool opportunity to make a really "over the top" Witch Elf.  Mostly, though, I'm happy to convert models that don't exist.  I think getting to play around on how I wanted to make my Cygor (converted Giant), Ghorgon (converted Shaggoth) and Jabbersclythe (LotR Fel Beast) was pretty great.

What are the top three Fantasy blogs you follow?
Drinkin' and Modelin'

- Randroid paints, models and plays in Warhammer, just like me.  Plus, we have the mutual interest of beer in common, although I'm a wheat beer guy myself for the most part.

The Painting Corps

- This is my site to read for great painting and modeling ideas.  I love that they post to different sites where they find the great stuff that I aspire to one day be able to do myself.

The Trading Post, ++ From the Warp ++, and Bell of Lost Souls

- I use these sites for their generally good daily information and to sort through other blogs for things I want to read.   It's kind of like the wargaming equivalent of the morning paper!

Brawler Bash Battle Reports from Erik Lindley, Player's Choice Winner

Hold on to your hats, folks!  We've got a long set of battle reports, but boy are they worth it.  These were written by our friend Erik Lindley, who won Player's Choice at Brawler Bash!

I finally finished my bat rep from the Bash. I thought I would put it here also in case you local folks wanted to read it(originally posted on IWFB and the Daemonic Legion). If you were at the BB, I am sure you had a good time. If you didn't make this one, you should come next year!

Brawler Bash III 2010

There are very few GT's in the south east. So few in fact, that we had to start one locally just to have one within 200 miles. The Brawler Bash in Raleigh, NC has been growing for 3 years. This year there were 38 players. It has a very talented pool of participants and one of the best scenario systems that exists. The venue is a clean Hilton hotel with good access to all the things gamers want (mostly decent bars, fast food, other hotels, etc...)

My list:
Keeper of Secrets- Lvl 2 wiz+ Spirit Swallower (every wound caused in combat heals a wound-up to starting value)
1-Herald of Slaan in a chariot+ Ether blade (no AS)+ Lvl 1 wiz
1-Herald of Slaan on Steed (in big 'nette unit) + Lvl 1 wiz
1- Herald of Slaan on foot (in small 'nette unit)
28 Daemonettes with full cmd
18 Daemonettes with full cmd
18 Bloodletters with full cmd
6 Seekers of Slaan with full cmd
1- Fiend of Slaan
1- Fiend of Slaan
6 power dice, 5 dispel
It comped at a 3008 (15) in WPS scoring. This tourney was heavily weighted to high comp. It effected your match-ups in the first 2 rounds and also how many battle points you got for wins/draw/loss.

The list is very effective, but it does lack a lot of the nasty combos that make DoC so darned tough. It is very fast and compact. It could even be called resilient (5+ wards on everything) but not if you saw how I roll wards



More picts of the army can be seen here:
http://z7.invisionfree.com/wyrmling_x/inde...?showtopic=7102


On to the games!


Game 1: Andrew Weber O&G
Andrew drove down from Ottawa Canada. He is a friend of mine and a super swell guy. I was super excited about playing him. We have talked a lot about warhammer, but never played. He has several fantastically painted armies, but chose to bring his O&G. We grudge matched each other which was a tough road for his 4400 comped O&G vs. my 3008 WPS Daemons (The Bash comp bracketed for the first 2 rounds), but Andrew wouldn't have it any other way!
We had a board that was peppered by small pieces of impassable terrain- a lot of it. There were a few open spots and the board did look very nice, but it definitely put the screws to our movement. He deployed heavily on his right flank and I did as well. That left us on opposite ends of the board, but no worries-our fast stuff will meet quickly anyways :>

His army from memory:
BlkO gen on foot.
Blk O BSB on Chariot
Goblin Shaman Lvl2
Orc Shaman Lvl 2
Big unit of BlkOrcs (28)
Unit of Orc Boys
Unit of Boar Boyz
2 units of Arrow Boyz
Unit of night goblins (3 fanatics)
Giant
2 bolt throwers

Turn 1:
I go first. Mostly everything moves forward or towards his lines. Kos moves up a flank along with the chariot. I try to get into range to spam the stupid spell (stupid and greenskins is like PB&J!), but failed on all my casting rolls (3 tries at 5+ on 2 dice) All game I think I got off one stupid spell that stuck and it was never failed so I won't mention it again. [ Magic wasn't integral to my battle plan with this army build, which was good as generally, I got very little of it off. :> ]

There was some maneuvering here and there. We both did a decent job of getting where we wanted to be. Animosity didn't really hamper Andrew too much that I can remember.

There was a pivotal point in the early turns where my keeper and chariot overran into his giant (his boar boys fled a charge and I EitW) Giants are weird, whacky things those giants... The KoS must have took a shine to him though, since he was very reluctant to kill it. It lasted through 3 combat phases with the KoS and the Chariot herald! It got thump with a club twice and on the second time I failed the initiative test! So Andrew rolls up a nice even 10 wounds on his 2d6. It is all riding on the ward save... a 6! KoS is safe and giant is dead soon after. We both laughed, we cried, it was better than "Cats."

If big nasty fails that ward then the game changes drastically. With the giant out of the way and his left flank in full retreat, all that was left to do was feed his general's unit a juicy unit of 'nettes with herald (which he gobbled up happily) and try to secure bonus points.
Win to the DoC. I finished with max bonus battle points for a total of 12
After battle thoughts: Andrew beat me in deployment for sure. I think he had a tight rein on his main troop blocks to protect from terror. He kept them close to the general until the right time. He had a few chances to kill the KoS (bolt throwers also) and nearly did it, but it just wasn't to be. The win was very one sided at the end, but the game as a whole was a close one that could have gone either way. Excellent game!

Side note: We had a friendly wager on this game. For 1 month after the tourney Andrew has to sign any post he makes in a WFB related forum as:
-andrew (I lost the right to capitalize my name in a game of WFB)
(to be a little more even I spotted him 300 VP for purposes of the bet-but if it ended in a draw, we both suffered the consequences)

Game 2: Lance Lagroue -Bretonnians
Lance predicted that we would meet in round 2 of the tourney. He turned out right and we threw down. Lance and I play fairly frequently, so I knew we would have a good game and whoever won would have to earn it.
His army was (from memory)
Lord kitted out to kill large targets (no way my KoS is getting near that thing)
1 scroll caddy
3 heros- 1 was BSB- all had magic weapons
5 lances of knights (7-9) with all but one lance being Errants
1 unit of 3 peg knights
1 unit 5 grail knights
1 unit fast cav, 1 unit of bowmen (10) , and 2 units of Men at arms

I deployed heavily to my right flank while he deployed fairly evenly across the board. His general's unit was opposite my KoS on the right flank. I did have the small unit of nettes with non-magic herald on foot on the extreme left flank. That unit (along with the no AS chariot herald for most of the game) held a stalemate on that side of the board with his BSB's unit and the fast cav/archers. The real game happened in the middle and right flank.

Turn 1:
I get to go first and I make a bold move with the Keeper. I move him up 20" and tuck him into some cover that shields him from charge arc of the general's units. I am march blocked and in a dangerous position, but he is now hemmed up as well. I can also threaten terror and throw my stupid spells from this position.

We entered into a maneuver and counter maneuver contest because of our fast elements. Neither person could get the edge they felt they needed to commit to the battle. It finally broke free with a charge by the Brets into the big 'nette unit on the far right (combo charge of grails and General's unit) and the central bloodletter unit by a hero lance and Men at arms (unfortunately the MaAs failed the fear test and stranded the knights). Those two units held and allowed a vicious Deamon counter charge series in my turn that saw the chariot smash the flank of the MaA and overrun into the Knights/bloodletter combat. The KoS went into the flank of the Grails and cleaned them up (challenge was ongoing elsewhere in the combat-so that option wasn't open to them) That round of combat saw all those Bret units destroyed and run down. The loss of those units was too much. Those combats could have gone much better for Lance than they did, lots of failed wards.

Win to the Daemons.

After battle thoughts: This game was decided on movement, plain and simple. We had two of the fastest armies in WFB and our first combat was bottom of turn 3. I decided early that I wasn't going to risk anything needlessly. I had units that Lance couldn't blow through (statistically :>) in one turn- we both knew that. Same was true of his units for me. My lack of high strength attacks and his ward made it unlikely that I could break him on the charge either. The effect was we both set our countercharges/traps and tricks and waited. All the while we were attempting to force targets of opportunity for soft points in case it devolved into a draw scenario. What a great game. It could have gone either way.


Round 3 Brian Griffen- Dark Elves
It turned out to be Brian Griffen and his Dark elves. I have always wanted to play Brian, but we hadn't gotten the chance up until now. His army:
Master (gen) steed+crimson death
Hag+cauldron BSB
2 x lvl2 sorceresses 2 scrolls total
2x 23 spearmen
3x Dark riders with mus and x-bows
18 Black guard with ASF banner
5 shades
2x Bolt throwers
Hydra

I am sitting at 2 wins and decent battle points. I knew that there were no more comp bandings for games 3 through 5. I knew that I would be facing a tough opponent. I was not disappointed! I was excited to learn I was playing Brian Griffen and his Dark Elves. I was NOT excited to find out that we were playing on the river table (the entire table is bi-sected by a large river- the river has 3 crossing points). Gahh! I knew that while Brian’s list was not abusive in the shooting phase, he had more than enough to punish me severely while I crossed that heinous landscape.

As a side note- the fact that I had resigned myself to a loss took a lot of pressure off and allowed me to settle down to have a good enjoyable game of warhammer. I am sure that helped.
For deployment we both deployed very heavy on my right flank. He split his bolters to opposite ends of the board. Brian had dark riders and shades on the light left flank. I had one fiend and the unit of Seekers threatening that flank. My plan was to send in the solo fiend to be shot and sacrificed to hold those units up and leave the reaper stranded with nothing good to shoot at.

Turn 1:
Brian’s heavy deployment in the right corner would end up working against him. I got first turn and moved everything up across the board. Now my KoS, chariot, and large unit of ‘nettes with mounted herald were threatening his black guard unit. That BG unit was in front of everything else and sort of bottling up some of his other support units. Because of the scenario card I played, a few of his units had moved forward 3” before the game. One of those units was the bolt thrower that could have drawn LOS to the Keeper. That earned me 1 free turn without getting bolted to death :>

Turn 1 of the DE’s went well on the right flank, but poorly on the left flank. His bolt thrower and dark riders failed to kill my single fiend who was lined up to take out the bolt thrower next turn. On the flip side Brian got off a devastating black horror spell on the large ‘nette unit. It hit 29 models! I was semi-fortunate when only 7 or 8 ended up dying. That, along with his concentrated shooting took out a large chunk of the 30 strong ‘nettes.

T2 I declare a combo charge into the BG unit. Keeper, chariot and mounted herald out of the ‘nettes all go into the front of the BG’s. My single fiend on the left eats his lone bolter on that side and overruns off the table. My single fiend on the right flank charges a dark riders unit near the table edge. It breaks them and pursues them off the table. In the center, my characters start chewing on his BG unit. I get rid of his general with the Keeper, fail to kill the sorceress in the unit and do enough wounds to easily win combat. The BG are stubborn of course, so go nowhere.

T2 for the DE’s stats off with a failed terror test on the spearmen near the BG combat. They did roll really low for the flee though and stayed on the table (to rally next turn). He moves up his hydra and blow flame on the remaining big unit of ‘nettes. Through magic, shooting and flaming, the 30 man unit of ‘nettes is now a 7 man unit of ‘nettes. Magic ceases to do all that much, a random MM here and there. I won’t speak of it any more. In combat, more BG die. I fail to kill the Sorceress in the BG unit with the Keeper’s 6 attacks! (Brian had the 5+ ward save from the cauldron on that unit ) Somewhere during this melee the Herald on Steed of Slaanesh is killed. BG lose combat again but make the test. They made every test they needed to take. I ultimately end up taking 2 or three more combat rounds to kill them to a man.

On DoC T3 I decide to cross the river in the center with the 18 ‘nette unit with herald to engage his waiting spear block #2 and shade unit. I also decided to move my seekers unit over to the lightly defended left flank since the demise of his blot thrower made travelling that way much safer I finished off his sorceress in the BG unit and finish the unit off. I charged the hydra with my near dead unit of ‘nettes. I moved up my bloodletters behind the nettes to either fight it when the ‘nettes died or move towards the x-bow DE’s that were shooting my units to ribbons. The hydra killed all but one or 2 ‘nettes (after combat res).

T3 for the DE went something like this: He maneuvered his spearmen unit in the middle to intercept my ‘nette unit+ herald at the bridge crossing. He shot that unit with his shades and my bloodletters with his x-bows. The Hydra killed the remaining ‘nettes and sat around waiting for the bloodletter charge that was coming. The spearmen that rallied got into position to support the hydra in that coming battle.

DoC T4 I charged the hydra with the bloodletter unit that is now down to around half strength due to magic and shooting. I charge the spearmen unit in the middle with the center ‘nette unit+ herald. I charge the chariot herald into the CoB. I move the seekers and single fiend to threaten the unit of shades and a unit of DR. The fiend on the right side sets up to charge the remaining bolter. I move the Keeper to the hill to see the cauldron, the rear of the hydra and the spearmen. In combat the hydra kills a few bloodletters, but loses combat, fails the break test and runs. I pursue, but don’t catch it, but do run into the waiting spearmen. The hydra stays on the board. The chariot gets challenged by the hag on the CoB and sits in combat with it for 3 combat rounds. The center ‘nettes break the spearmen on the charge and catch them on the pursuit.

DE Turn 4: The shades and DR kill 4 of the seekers with missle fire. The spearman block holds against the bloodletters. The x-bows+ remaining sorceress go stupid because of a spell I got off on them earlier. The CoB lasts one more round in combat with the chariot herald. The hydra fails to rally and runs off the board.

DoC T5 I combo charged the remaining DR unit with the 3 remaining seekers and the fiend. The Dark Riders fled the charge and I redirected into the rear of the X-bows with the fiend. I charged the rear of the spearmen unit with the Keeper. The center ‘nette unit turned around to get shot by the shades. In combat the chariot herald killed the BSB death hag on the CoB. The remaining hag broke from combat and the chariot overran into the flank of the X-bows. The keeper and the Bloodletters cleaned up the spearmen block, running them down. I wiffed all my attacks against the X-bows and the Sorceress. The sorceress kills the chariot out from under the herald, but I still win combat, the DE’s hold.

DE T5 and beyond: The shades shoot up the remaining seekers. Then they slink away to live another day. The sorceress dies a horrible death by the herald on foot patrol. I have control of the board. I can’t remember if the x-bows actually held and survived, or if they died in combat. Either way it was clear that the Daemons had won the game. WOW
I ended up getting a few bonus points from that game and finished the day with 30 battle points (out of a possible 36)

After game comments: I did not expect to win that game. Had a few rolls early on gone a little differently it still might not have been. Brian’s deployment really hurt him on the heavy flank. The BG held really well, but nothing could get to the aid of that unit in time. It was a very fun game. When he got off that T1 Black horror I just figured that was how the game was going to go :>

I wasn't at the top in battle points, but I was close. I knew with soft scores added in that I had a shot at winning the whole shebang. It would all depend on my next 2 games!


Andrew, my wife Denise, my brother Kevin and I ended up hooking up with Ben Tuite and crew for drinks and dinner at the Carolina Ale house. The beer was expensive, but good as was the food. We had a very relaxing evening and even managed to get back to the hotel at a respectable 10 p.m. The rooms at the Hyatt place where we were staying were very nice. They had a great set-up for hanging out with a separate “living room” area with a sectional couch and refrigerator. After an hour or so of talking we called it a night and hit the rack.

I woke up early and met Andrew and Kevin for breakfast down in the hotel lobby. We talked about strategy and engineers (the building kind, not the train driving ones ) that are missing pinky fingers… you had to have been there :>
I get to the venue about 30 minutes before go time and talk to some of the guys. Rob Canterman tells me that his mission is to destroy the hopes of his next two opponents! (all in good fun of course). Guess who his next opp was? Yeppers, me!

Rob Canterman’s VC (from memory)
General Vamp with 18” charge, nightshroud and magic ability, also was stupid and had red fury with sword of might?
Vamp with master of sorcery and the helm on nightmare
Wight BSB with Regen banner
Vamp with magic on steed.
Big unit of ghouls
Big unit of Skels
Big unit of Zombies
Unit of Black knights
Unit of fell bats
2 units of dire wolves
Black coach

Rob and I have played before. I met him at the first Brawler Bash. Our games are always fun. I knew that this one would be no different. I settled down to have a good time. We were on table “2” Table “1” to my right was Alex S. and his O&G vs. Chaves and his TK. Table “3” to my left was Jason Conca and his Kholek army vs. Collins “the Kid” Mullins and his Teclis army. Jason is a large man and Collins is a slight, young man. Their game was very interesting and I kept looking over, but mostly to make sure that Jason didn’t eat Collins! I would have liked to watch both games in their entirety because they both looked very interesting. I was surprised (and happy) to see an O&G army at the top table. That is surely a testament to the player as much as the comp/scoring system the Bash used.

I could talk about this game in a turn by turn format, but truthfully it was decided early on with very little maneuvering, so I’ll just abbreviate the narrative a little.
We both deployed heavy on the left flank. I had the unit of seekers and a fiend on the right to threaten while he had his 2 units of dire wolves, fell bats and the coach there. Everything else was squared up against each other in the middle and left flank.
Rob got the first turn. He was a gentleman and warned me before the game that the ghoul unit could move after deployment and the Gen could charge 18” so watch out for a T1 charge. He did just that and solo charged my single fiend. The gen broke through and was behind my lines. On my turn I maneuvered a little and dispelled Curse of years on the big ‘nette unit. He got Curse of years off on that unit 3 times. I was able to dispel it in MY turn each time, but it cost me most of my power dice each turn. My magic was inconsequential for the game, his magic was devastating.

I thought about being coy and playing shifty for a possible draw, but the truth was it would be tough to pull one since he was dominant at range(magic) and had me beat in deployment and equal in maneuver elements. Soooo I decided to go all in :> I forced the big battle for the game right off the bat. I charged the KoS and the big ‘nette unit into the front of the ghouls (containing the BSB and support Vamp). I charged the Bloodletters into the flank of that same unit. I charged a unit of dire wolves with the seekers. I charged the black knights in the flank with the chariot herald. This is gonna’ be great right? Carnage galore right? Not so much The chariot herald had to go through about 1” of woods to complete the flank charge on the BK’s- roll up the damage to chariot and it kills the chariot out from under her-failed charge. KoS+Nettes+bloodletters fail to do much more than kill the champion in their combat. The power of the regen banner was far too great for me to overcome. That means they are exposed to multiple counter charges in the next turn with no support in sight. The Seekers did punch through the dire wolves and got a decent overrun, but magic in the coming turns assured that he got his coach into their flank ending their escapade.
Could it have gone differently? Sure it could have, but it wasn’t a good plan to start with. With that round in the bag the game was done and all Rob had to do was sweep up the pieces. Full win to the VC and no bonus points at all to DoC.

After battle thoughts: Well, Rob beat me in deployment then he out played me. I had a really silly plan that vastly underestimated the regen banner. If I got a do over, I would play much more conservatively and try to take out points with the mobile elements instead of supporting my troop blocks. I should have left them to their fate. It would still have relied on rolling the bones to get good combats, but probably would have ended better for me in the end. This army build really struggles with tourney hard VC.
So I end up with “0” points going into game 5. That dropped me considerably in the standings, but it also took the pressure off. :> I would be matched up with Dan Rothrock and his ogres for game 5!


I had already had 4 great opponents during this tourney. I have NEVER had a 5 game tournament where all 5 opps were fun to play. Dan Rothrock walked up to the table and I immediately knew that I was in for a first-5 fun opponents at a tourney!

Two other things make this game extra nice from the get go:
1- Dan’s ogres are easy on the eyes and
2- The table we played on had more space around it than any of the other tables. That was a serious bonus because some of the tables were pretty cramped.

Dan’s army (from memory-I could be wrong on some of this-I didn’t fight a lot of his army)
Tyrant- Greedy fist, greyback pelt and a big name (maybe longstrider?) maybe magic weapon?
Butcher- 2 dispel scrolls
Maybe 2 other bruisers?
Unit of 2 Bull Rhinox
Scrap Launcher
Unit of 3 Leadbelchers
1 unit of gnoblars
Slave Giant
2 units of 4 Iron Guts
2 or 3 units of Bulls

I hate to be anticlimactic, but there wasn’t a lot of excitement in this game to report. While Dan and I had a pleasant game, it was clear from the beginning that we would be playing for points.

The board had a lot of terrain on it, mostly woods. There was also a hill and small stream on my board edge. He deployed heavy on the left flank and I deployed heavy in the middle and on the right flank. I played the card that gave me bonus points for holding terrain features (there were many to choose from) and for having units in the enemy deployment zone at the end of the game. Dan played the card that gave him bonus points for keeping his most expensive AND his least expensive unit alive. To that end he hid the gnoblars behind terrain in his corner and only used the Rhinox riders to threaten-never committed them to battle.

I had the seekers and a solo fiend to threaten the left flank. He had a unit of bulls and a unit of ironguts behind them holding that table area. We had a standoff on that flank the entire game so I won’t mention that side again. **No units on that flank were harmed during the filming of this batrep

The real game happened in the middle of the table and the right flank. There was an open slot about 2 feet wide in the middle of the table.

Honestly, I can’t remember who got first turn (I think it was Dan), but I moved my entire army up and towards his left flank position. I moved the casters close enough to throw the stupidity spell on a few units. No combats at first. I did get the stupidity spell off on the scraplauncher who was Ld6 with no general anywhere near. He dispelled some, but saved his 2 scrolls for later in the game.

I had so much speed that I was able to pretty much choose where the battles were fought. The KoS and the fiend combo charged a unit of bulls then overran. The iron guts were lined up to get a nice flank charge on the KoS when he overran , but I was able to move the solo fiend in the way so that he had to charge the fiend and overrun into the front of the KoS. By the time that combat happened between the IG’s and the KoS I was able to bring up the bloodletters who charged the scraplauncher killed it and overran into the KoS/IG combat. They predictably broke and the Bloodletters held while the KoS ran off the table (saving him from the leadbelchers that were poised to shoot him) The lead belchers shot the bloodletters and then fled the charge.

During this right flank action the middle saw a standoff between the big ‘nette unit , smaller ‘nette unit and the chariot herald vs. a bull unit, giant and the leadB’s (also the Rhinox riders early on). Once the right flank broke, I committed to the combat around turn 4 or 5. By this time Dan had pulled his Rhinox riders back to his left flank. After I took care of the bull unit, I was able to move my troops up unmolested to take a few terrain features. A turn 6 charge on the giant got my small ‘nette unit into Dan’s deployment zone. Along with the KoS who just menaced the rest of the game once he came back on the table.

Our game kind of just coasted to a close. I think it was around turn 2 that we both realized that this game wasn’t going to be all that exciting. We both apologized to the other person and went about our business :>
In the end, I ate enough of his soft points to secure the win. I also was able to get all 5 bonus battle points for the scenario. That gave me the max 12 points for the game. I finished the tournament with 42 total battle points (out of a possible 60) and very respectable 4-1 record.

After battle thoughts: Well, Dan played it extremely conservative. He told me early on that he didn’t think he had anything that could deal with some of my units. Personally, I was very concerned about the Rhinox riders and the highly mobile, wizard level eating Tyrant slinking around. I wasn’t taking many chances on my end either. I had very little reason to really. There were enough points available on the right flank to secure the win without risking the majority of my army. I was also able to accomplish all my bonus points without demolishing his army, so I was happy :> Daemons are a tough draw for ogres no matter how you slice it.

We never found out what would have happened if we had committed to an all out brawl… the world may never know

Wrap up:
I knew I was up in the top 5-10 in terms of battle points. I also knew that my soft scores were pretty good. It wasn’t totally out of the question that I might be in the race for overall.
The winners were announced starting with Whipping boy (I can’t remember who won this one) and Best Sport (Ian Holland). They then went on to Best painted (won by our Canadian friend Andrew Weber with his amazing O&G). They then moved on to Player’s Choice and called my name! Of course, I knew that since I had won the PC award that I had missed the Overall (At the BB you can only win one major award), but I was ok with that. Denise and I were very happy and proud to win the PC award this year. There were several inspiring armies in attendance. That was our 2nd Player’s Choice award at the Brawler Bash. Best General was Alex Chaves with his TK and the Overall grand champ was Eoin Wheelan with his very pretty Slaanesh DoC. I ended up 5 points behind Eoin in second place overall.

I don’t have a problem with WPS comp, even though it is extremely harsh to DoC. I think that it did its job of encouraging varied army builds and books. I was wrong in my pre-GT prediction that an army that was in the 3k+ range would win it all. Eoin’s DoC scored 2012, but it was beautifully painted and he got several favorite player votes. Those things added in to his overall win. What you did see was 2 O&G, TK, Ogres, Brets, and 2 WoC (NON- gateway FTW) in the top 10. The army spread for the tournament as a whole was very wide as well:
6 DE, 6 WoC, 4 TK, 3 DoC, 3, VC, 3 Brets, 3 Lizzie, 3 O&G, 2 Dwarf, 2 WE, 2 OK, 1 Skaven
It was a nice change from the same old builds and combos you see repeated over and over in the overwhelming majority of GT’s. I do hope that special characters are not allowed next year. I wish they could be, but they are too random in their power level. Some are fine, but others are totally bent.


It was an awesome tournament. There was nice growth from the year before (24 to 38 players). The venue was clean and well staffed. There were some really talented players all over the place and spread through the comp brackets. For such a modest player count the competition was stiff. A great way to spend a weekend! All things considered, this was probably the most enjoyable GT I have ever participated in. I enjoyed seeing new faces and meeting lots of new folks. I also enjoyed seeing the folks I already knew. Andrew enjoyed the tournament so much that he vowed to bring back more of his countrymen with him when he returns.