The Battle Reports of Beastlord Karnakawa, Gathering of Battle Reports

[Beastlord Karankawa]

I'm gathering all my battle reports in one area - hope everyone likes.

[Beastlord Karankawa]

The following is my account of the 2007 Lonewolf Indy GT held in Dallas, TX from August 17th through August 19th – at least to the best of my abilities to remember all the great moments (and those not as great as they should have been!).

Below is the list I wanted to try out (the list I spent several weeks worth of late nights painting on to touch up and revamp models that I painted some 10 years ago – I estimate that I painted over 1500 maggots for the event as well as sculpted new swords for everyone).

Nurgle DL List -
Father Nurgle
Maggotus - Daemonic Herald with Spell Breaker
1 x 21 Plaguebearer unit with Icon / full command
1 x 14 Plaguebearer unit / full command
1 x 4 Nurglings
1 x 3 Nurglings
2 x 3 Plagueriders



Day 0 (Friday, August 17th)
Opponent - Ben Burns – Skaven colored Doombull / Beastmen



Army List-
Doombull with Sword of Might with 7 minotaurs with great weapons
3 x level two Bray Shaman with Death magic and three dispel scrolls
2 x 3 Minotaur units with great weapons
2 x 4 Minotaur unit with great weapon
2 x Herds with full command (used to keep the Bray Shaman safe)
3 x 6 Chaos Hounds
2 x Beast Chariots
1 x 6 Furies
2 x Spawn



Scenario – Pitch battle (for the rival Herdstone)

Summary - As with many of my games, it started out rough. Ben and I have been playing grudge matches for the better part of close to 10 years now – he always taking the low road and cheating blatantly in every game where as I claimed the high road and cheated much less. The evil beasties were able to set up any number of charges against my relatively slow moving shambling horde. The herds held on tight to its shaman charges (2 in one herd on the right and 1 in a herd on the left). Through out the game, they attempted to pepper the poor Daemons with magic missiles, some finding their targets, but most being accepted / dispelled.

The mighty Doombull and his unit then ran aggressively across the board to the middle of the battlefield, behind its hounds though. Each hound unit positioned itself in such a manner as to afford the trailing units the best counter charge possible though. Flanking his position were his other two units of minotaurs. The two beast chariots were to the left of the all the minotaurs and also moved up aggressively. The furies took to the sky and quickly moved to march block as many units as possible.

The Nurgle Daemon legion surged forward in a tight mass – the two Plaguebearer blocks held Father Nurgle and Maggotus safely inside. A Plaguerider unit was tasked to help protect the flank of each block of Plaguebearers and a unit of Nurglings was used to help protect the flanks and rears of each Plaguerider unit. I found early on that you want as many units as possible to be able to use the Herald’s Instability Re-roll ability.

The Doombull general then barked his commands out to his hounds – they stood firm and waited for the Daemons’ charge. The chariots were ready to strike as well as the furies for supporting attacks. The beast magic continued to pelt units, but to no significant effect yet.

With the Daemon charge though, the hounds were crushed easily, but the flanks of the Daemons were guarded carefully. The beasts then crashed in with a thunderous counter charge. The furies and one chariot slammed into the left most Nurgling unit, but the Daemons took minimum damage from impact hits before slaughtering several furies and wounding the chariot. The furies then “popped” and the chariot fled back next to its wing mate – the one that failed its fear test…twice…and refused to charge in an save the day. The right most Nurglings faired well also. They were charged by a large minotaur unit to the front, took some damage, but removed a minotaur from play. In the middle, the remaining minotaur units (one of which had the Doombull), attempted to destroy the smaller Plaguebearer unit, and damage was done, but the unit remained…taking a minotaur down as well.

It was after this that the “4th Quarter” Daemons came into play. The fleeing chariot failed to rally, and fled through his “wing mate”, destroying him, and then fled through the left most herd, destroying several ungors, but not enough to take a break check. Those units in combat remained in combat with no significant break checks failed (a lone minotaur took off, but that was all). The right most Nurglings continued to take spell damage and march toward the herd in front, but wily beasts continued to drop back and avoid confrontation.

The final blow came the next turn when Father Nurgle and his Plaguebearers entered the fray and pounded enough minotaurs into the dirt that it forced the Doombull and his minotaurs to turn and flee – hoping to avoid death – but death was not to be avoided. They fleeing units were pounced upon and destroyed with successful pursuit rolls.

This game was one of the more lopsided games I had over the weekend with everything said and done, but Ben was more than happy to have this experience on Friday rather during actual tournament time.





Result - Max victory points and the all-important taking the coveted HERDSTONE from the evil fiend.

Unit of the match? The Nurglings did very well – holding up everything that came at them. If the chariot on the left had passed one of its fear checks, it may have been a little different.


Day 1 (Saturday, August 18th)
Game 1 Opponent – Rafael Barretto – Dark Elves



Army List -
Highborn on Cold One
3 x Level 2 Sorceresses on Dark Steeds in 3 x Dark Rider units of 6
3 x Cold One Chariots
2 x 7 Cold One Knights (one with Highborn)
3 x Reaper Bolt Throwers



Scenario – Lone Ranger (one model from the unit with the highest cost per model in your army becomes the Lone Ranger and gains a 5+ ward save, a horse if all ready mounted, loner model that can’t join other units, and silver bullets he can fire from his pistol – yes, one of my mighty 80 point Plagueriders became a lowly 30 point Lone Ranger).



Summary - Wow…right of the bat I expected to get slaughtered. Lots of magic, lots of speed, and all combined with the legendary voluminous Dark Elf shooting should spell the end for Father Nurgle early in the game. Rafael was very calm and collective when I told him how bad he was going to destroy my forces and have bits of Nurgle everywhere. He set up against my left flank with his knights and chariots and against my right flank with Bolt Throwers and Dark Riders. It was going to be soft on my right flank, but only because I had no chance to catch any of them and I would take plenty of damage.

Against my right flank, I had a unit of Plagueriders and a large unit of Nurglings (four stands). Everything else was poised to go toward his knights.

The right flank is easier to describe – the Dark Riders moved in, cast some spells and was supported by the Bolt throwers for most of the game and I lost both my Nurglings and Plagueriders. There was some combat as I was able to finally engage (or be engaged) by two Dark Rider units on the unit of Nurglings. The fight lasted the rest of the game with the Nurglings getting reduced to near nothing, but bringing down one of the Sorceresses and a handful of Dark Riders.

The left flank was quite messy, but thanks to Nurglings again, it boded well for the Daemons. The unit of Cold One Knights with his Highborn charged with his Lone Ranger into my Plagueriders. During the course of the fight, 2 Plagueriders were destroyed, but they brought down all the knights and the Lone Ranger as well. The Nurglings on the left flank were charged by chariots, but eventually drove them off. The two Plaguebearer units marched to divide the Dark Elves further – rolling through the middle like a wedge. The smaller Plaguebearer unit received a charge from the second Cold One Knight unit, but they had been hit by the Pestilence and were a mere shadow of what they once were. A Dark Rider unit also charged into the rear for support, but at the end of the combat, they were both driven away.

After several rounds of shooting at Father Nurgle, the Greater Daemon left his unit and begin puking on the Bolt Thrower crewmen, killing 3 of 4 in two units in close proximity. Later, he then charged the last and slew him – over running close to the Bolt Thrower on the right flank.

Oh, and my Lone Ranger stayed in some woods the whole game – really just ignoring him for fear of getting him popped by a stray bolt thrower shot.

The game was over at this point and the Daemon Legion faired well against the many shots, magic, and maneuverability traits of the Dark Elves.

Result - Max victory points and max scenario points.

Unit of the match? The left flanking Plagueriders (only 2 mind you since one became the Lone Ranger for my force) that took multiple charges through out the game and dispatching several characters claims the honor of best unit in the game. The other unit on the right flank was shot to pieces, but made it into combat with a single wound, only to whiff against Dark Riders and die to instability.

Game 2 Opponent – Patrick Grimwood– Empire



Army List (Patrick did not list out his units magic items or stats – an open / closed list) -
Popemobile
BSB
Warrior Priest
Level 2 Mage
2 x 20+ Swordsmen
1 x 25 Flagellants with Prophet
1 x 10 Archers
1 x Great Cannon
1 x 23 Greatswords
1 x 10 Outriders (mobile volley gun)
1 x Steam Tank

Scenario – Teetotalers! (your army, to be able to win the scenario points, had to consume heavily – which gave them an orc like animosity check at the beginning of each turn – the winner of the scenario object was the army that held the most banners at the end of the game).

Summary – I tried to research as much as possible about the new elements of the Empire army prior to the tournament, and understood that the Popemobile (Lector on War Alter), was a tough nut to crack and should be better off avoided simply because it was not worth the effort to kill. It was placed in the center of Patrick’s army, flanked by swordsmen to either side. The Steam Tank (ouch) was on my right flank supported by the archers and Flagellants (like it really need the help). On my right flank, I was challenged by the Outriders and Great Cannon – both of whom I realized I would never really catch.

I set up similar to how I fought against Ben – Plaguebearers in the center, Plagueriders on either flank, Nurglings protect the overall flanks.

My plan was to delay the left flank with a unit of Nurglings, have the Plagueriders flank into the left most Swordsmen. The right flank was to have Nurglings chase off the Archers. In the middle, Father Nurgle and his unit was to go after the Steam Tank and the rest of the chips were to fall where they may.

How did it turn out? The small unit of Plaguebearers with BSB held against the Popemobile and the Flagellants for nearly the whole game. I was able to support that combat with the remaining Plaguerider (after getting shot and “magiced” to pieces). None of the Flagellants lived, but the Popemobile was unscathed and continued to pore out bound Life Magic spells against the Daemons. Following that, a critical dispel chance of a 5+ was botched on 2 dice and a dozen additional Daemon wounds left the board due to D6 Str 6 hits.

Father Nurgle did get engaged with the Steam Tank, but mainly because the Stank charged right in after him. After 6 rounds of combat (way too long) and the reinforcements of Nurglings and Plagueriders (from the Daemon side) and a large block of Swordsmen (from the Empire’s side), the Steam Tank was ultimately stripped of all 10 wounds and shattered to the ground – causing the combat to be a victory in my favor and driving away the Empire forces. Further shooting and the effects of magic brought Father Nurgle’s unit under half strength, but Father Nurgle remained unscathed for the game.



Result - In the end, I just could not catch enough points to combat to secure enough for a win, and lost by 800 victory points and lost the scenario bonus.

Unit of the match? Father Nurgle in this game did the best. He was the only thing I had that could take on the Steam Tank – and that is what he did. It took him far too long to go through it though…leaving him out of the game for the most part.


Game 3 Opponent - Thomas Stultz - Dwarfs

Army List -
Runesmith
Thane
2 x Master Engineers
1 x 20 Hammerers
1 x 15 Ironbreakers
1 x 10 Dwarf Warriors
3 x 10 Thunderers
2 x Organ Guns
2 x Bolt Throwers

Scenario – Oil Well (you could take the offensive stance or defensive stance and take / defend an oil well – with both choose defense – I had little fear that the dwarfs would even make it to my deployment zone).

Summary – I regret that I failed to take any pictures during this game. The late hours of painting for the last several weeks were taking a toll on me (not to mention the games I played over the last 24 hours or so) and I simply forgot about it. Tom was also a bit weary, so we made a decision (unspoken) just to do what our armies do best.

He formed up in a dwarf gun line formation with his combat units to behind and ready for counter charging. Two units of Thunderers and the two Organ Guns were deployed in the middle. On my left flank was the third unit of Thunderers and the Great Cannon. To the right of the Ironbreakers (who were behind the right most Thunders in the middle of the board) where the two Bolt Throwers.

I did my usual set up - Plaguebearers in the center, Plagueriders on either flank, Nurglings protect the overall flanks. There were to be no tricks in this one – it was a battle against superior shooting and I choose to put the peddle to the metal and march right into its teeth.

Overall, the Dwarf shooting was quite effective – I lost several Nurgling bases, several Plaguebearers, and several Plagueriders. Two deafening rounds of short ranged Volley Gun / Thunderer fire chewed into the approaching Daemons – removing many wounds each time, but the Daemon characters remained. Then those stubborn Dwarf units had the nerve to hold their ground and get into hand-to-hand combat.

I did make Tom cry a bit when I got off Pestilence on his Iron Breakers early in the game – dropping 2-3 of them every magic phase there after no matter how much he tried to dispel it. I then got Pestilence off again on the Hammerers, but it was later in the game and the damage was not as significant.

Finally, when hand to hand began, the Nurgle Daemons chewed through the Thunderers and the Volley Guns will no issues. The smaller Plaguebearer block then overran two inches so that the Hammerers could counter charge them. Father Nurgle’s unit overran into the now 5 model strong unit of Ironbreakers with BSB (quickly dispatching them in the following round of combat). The right most unit of Plagueriders began to eat the Both Thrower teams behind their entrenchments – overrunning from one to the other - poisoning at least 2 models in each combat. The unit was screened as much as possible during the early turns of the game by the Nurglings to help preserve the Daemon riders – and it paid off.

The smaller Plaguebearer block held against the Dwarf counter charge, but it was not until Father Nurgle turned to charge into the flanks of the Dwarf units pinned in combat did the final battled resolve themselves. The Dwarf blocks were quickly dispatched and the game ended.

Result - Max victory points and max scenario points.

Unit of the match? Father Nurgle (and his unit) in this game did the best. Removing the threat of the Ironbreakers early on, along with rolling up the flanks of the Dwarf infantry blocks brought the game to a secure victory.

Day 2 (Sunday, August 19th)
Game 4 Opponent – Marcus Martin – Chaos Dwarfs

Army List:
Lord Sargon - Chaos Dwarf Lord on Taurus
Fewkes - Bull Centaur Hero with great weapon
Duerte Eggensperger – Hobgoblin Hero on wolf
Astragon – Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer
2 x 15 Chaos Dwarfs with blunderbusses
1 x 19 Chaos Dwarfs with hand weapon / shield / full command
3 x 20 Hobgoblins (Lava Golems)
1 x 10 Hobgoblins mounted on wolves / full command
2 x 7 Bullcentaurs with great weapons
2 x Deathrockets
4 x Bolthrowers



Scenario – Texas Thunderstorm (a massive thunderstorm is rolling in from the west, but the enemy is in your grasp so you cannot disengage. A line of rain, that counted as both Howler Wind and Rain Lord, moved D3+2 inches at the start of each player’s turn. Objective was to keep more of you units dry at the end of the game – the thunderstorm was somewhat just a little shower as troops with any kind of speed could easily get out of it).

Summary - The game was doom and gloom – written off early. There were no woods or significant cover for Father Nurgle to protect his troops (or himself) as he marched across the battlefield against four bolt throwers, two death rockets, and various magic (though with a stern look from Father Nurgle to the little Dwarf Sorcerer, the diminutive mage quickly took the batteries out of his magic stick and hid it for the rest of the battle – ie rolled a 1 for exhaustion) . I quickly tried to convince Marcus not to shoot Father Nurgle and to focus his shooting on my army, but he would have none of it. For three rounds, he pumped Father Nurgle full of Bolts and Death Rockets…dispatching him with some ease. Prior to Father Nurgle’s demise, though, he had managed to scare away some of those pesky Hobgoblin units, puke a Blunderbuss to death, and put Pestilence on the Chaos Dwarf Warrior unit.

Daemonic ward saves were continually being botched for the first several turns (not being smart enough to roll higher I suppose was the main problem). This was made obvious by losing 70% of a Plaguebearer unit to the two Blunderbuss units over several rounds of blasting, losing Father Nurgle, losing the small unit of Nurglings to a combined charge from two Bull Centaur units, and a Hobgoblin Hero combined with the Chaos Dwarf Lord on Taurus pounding the larger unit of Nurglings. Marcus was more than happy to do a little dance at this time – you could not chisel the smile off of his face.

However, from the point of Father Nurgle’s removal from battle, he became more powerful than Marcus could ever imagine – vintage Obi-Great-Unclean-Wan Kenobi style. For several turns after his demise, many of the Chaos Dwarf Warriors fell to the Nurgle’s Revenge – Pestilence causing massive soiling of warrior shorts. It was so bad that they could not even continue to fight and simply fell to the ground in their own waste and rolled around on their bloated little bellies.
I thought that I should roll better on my dice to avoid taking any more damage, so I did. After smashing through the small unit of Nurglings on my right flank with two Bull Centaur units, and over running one into the flank of my right most Plaguerider unit, the ensuing combat shocked both of us. Bullcentaurs screamed in, but failed to hit more than twice, then failed to wound on a 3+. Fighting back, the Plaguerider pulled two down from poison and drove them away by outnumber with fear.

The Plaguerider unit was charged again later in the game, Marcus thinking that obviously the plan is not flawed, it must have been a fluke. The second unit of Bullcentaurs charged into the flank AND the large unit of Hobgoblin Wolfriders unit charged to the rear (this was the second attempt for the Wolfriders to charge, but this time the Marcus’s angry stare got them to pass their fear check). The combat saw no wounds again to the Plaguerider unit - having passed two ward saves from the Bullcentaurs and not taking any wounds from the Hobgoblins. Fighting back, the three Plagueriders poisoned two more Bullcentaurs and brought down three Wolfriders. With the bonuses in Marcus favor, the Plaguerider unit passed its instability check with plenty of room to spare. The next round, the Bullcentaurs lost another three as did the Wolfriders – both failed their “Insane Courage” test – I have never seen so many failed “Insane Courage” tests in one game. The pursuit of the Bullcentaurs led to their capture / destruction and into hand-to-hand with the recently recovered-from-pestilence Chaos Dwarf Warriors (who finally managed a dispel with 4 dice). The following turn of combat, however, saw that unit’s destruction and removal from the game – had they not lost a rank + to the Pestilence, it would have been much closer. To sum up the right flank – Plagueriders 36, Chaos Dwarfs 0.

The left flank involved the larger unit of Nurglings supported by the second unit of Plagueriders. The Nurglings continued to fight with the Hobgoblin hero and the Chaos Dwarf Lord on Taurus. Over the course of six rounds of combat, the Nurglings were down three bases and one remaining wound left, but the Taurus was killed and Chaos Dwarf Lord running for the hills. Had the Hobgoblin Hero also failed, perhaps both would have been removed. The Plagueriders removed ten of a nearby ranked up Hobgoblins unit (it had wandered into their charge arc in hopes of keeping the Plagueriders from supporting any other fights – or maybe it was just the animosity talking) and removed them from much of the game. The fleeing unit did block several those bolt throwers from shooting effectively though. Taking advantage of the cover, the Plagueriders then moved in to help their little companions. With a flank charge on the Hobgoblin Hero, he was driven off and destroyed. Because of the placement of the charge and the Nurglings, the Chaos Dwarf General was forced to flee again, but no one could pursue enough to catch him.

In the middle, the smaller unit of Plaguebearers with Daemonic Herald continued to march toward the left most Blunderbuss unit and the larger unit of Plaguebearers, now without Father Nurgle, toward the right most Blunderbuss unit – occasionally having to smack around a Hobgoblin unit from time to time as Marcus was throwing everything he could now to avoid losing his lovable huggable Chaos Dwarfs. The remaining rank of the small Plaguebearer unit finally was able to get a charge off, but Marcus elected to flee – obviously scared of such fighting prowess – and rolled a twelve. This twelve took them over a bolt thrower team and off the table – dust flying up from their heels the whole time. There were several mutterings from Marcus at this…something about how Chaos Dwarfs never run 12….never… To get revenge on this unit, the Bullcentaur Hero charged the left flank of the unit and the 2nd Blunderbuss unit charged the right flank. The Bullcentaur Hero challenged and Marcus only let me accept with my Daemonic Herald. I could not refuse and saw the challenge begin. The Bullcentaur Hero swung away, and failed to hit. After some taunting, the Herald swung back and did a wound. The Blunderbuss unit failed to wound as well, but took one back. The unit of 5 Daemon models, charged in two flanks, won the combat, and drove off the Bullcentaur Hero (who promptly ran into the flanking Plaguerider unit and was played with to death). In the next round of combat, the remaining Blunderbuss unit took two wounds off the BSB and braced for a flank attack from the large Plaguebearer unit the next turn. With extreme confidence, Marcus ordered his Blunderbuss unit to kill off the Herald the following turn, which they did, but the combined weight of numbers of the newly engaged Plaguebearer unit, they failed yet another “Insane Courage” test. The unit was run down and the remaining four Plaguebearers moved right in front of one of the Bolt Thrower.

Marcus thought he had too many points left on the board for some reason, and sacrificed the Deathrocket team that claimed Father Nurgle’s final 6 wounds (or was that part of Nurgle’s Revenge as well??) – either way – it blew up.

The little Chaos Dwarf Lord rallied in time to fight off the remaining Nurgling base, and was saved by the bell as the Plaguerider unit, that ate the Hobgoblin Hero and Bullcentaur Hero, had him in their sites when the game was over.



I voted for this as best game of the weekend – just because it had such a large sway in the game. The game was Marcus’s early on with me loosing 700 VP’s with Father Nurgle’s removal, but when the rest of the Nurgle army stepped it up a notch, it lowered the major victory in Marcus’ favor, to a draw in Marcus’s favor (turn 4), to a draw in my favor (turn 5), to a victory in my favor (turn 6).

Result: 16 point victory with 4 point scenario bonus.

Unit of the match? Clearly both Plaugueriders performed well beyond the call of duty – during the course of the game, they were engaged in combat with 7 different Chaos Dwarf units, and being shot for a few rounds by the Chaos Dwarf artillery, neither unit took a wound.


Game 5 Opponent – Jason Johnson – Nurgle Daemon Legion

Army List -
See my list at the top? That is what Jason had as well. I’m convinced the tourney organizers sold my list to him.



Scenario – Texas Hold’em (there were 8 cards to choose from, each worth a scenario point should you achieve the objective).

Summary – We were evenly spread out, and evenly matched, but Jason’s experience with his army was much greater than my own (only having played it starting this year, and only in a handful of games, and only with two different opponents prior to the tournament – I did a lot of research though and practical application drills).

We lined up nearly unit per unit across the board and we both dreaded receiving a charge. Jason began some strange dance or something and consulted the bathroom several times but then had his strategy. He shuffled his characters around a bit and I found that I was no longer looking at facing off against his GUO with Father Nurgle…I was up against his large Plaguebearer unit only. Hmmm.

Things started looking bad when his magic really kicked in for the first two turns – getting off Pestilence twice with irresistible force – one on each of my Plaguebearer units. He looked so smug, but Father Nurgle showed him. Farther Nurgle promptly miscast and removed all active spells from the game. He knew what he was doing the whole time.

Anyway, I played quite cautiously and tried to emulate what Jason was doing, but he got the better of me. We exchanged taking out each other’s troops through out the whole game. Plagueriders on Plaguerider action really was not a big deal as poisonous attacks were few and ward saves were plenty. It wasn’t until the Nurglings also jumped into those combats did one side have a margin of victory over the other.

At the end of the game, Jason accounted for my smaller Plaguebearer unit, both my Plaguerider units, Maggotus (Daemonic Herald) and my smaller Nurgling unit. I accounted for both of his Plaguerider units, his smaller unit of Nurglings, and his larger unit of Plaguebearers – oh and I reduced his GUO to a toughness 5 forever and ever.

Result: It was a draw to Jason’s favor – he pulled in two of the scenario objective points and I pulled in one.

Unit of the match? I am claiming that Father Nurgle gets the award here as well. He cleaved through a large unit of Plaguebearers, dispelled nasty magical effects, and talked about Jason’s GUO’s mama so much that he lost a point of Toughness.


As far as the 2007 Lonewolf Tournament went, the ship sailed smoothly the whole time no matter how much I tried to gum it up. [clapping hands]Bret, David, Andy, Mark, Mike, Jim and the rest that helped with the event really contributed to making this event first class. [/clapping hands]. It was my first official Lonewolf, and I was very impressed with the venue - spacious, floor the ceiling windows, well air conditioned, donated do-nuts (Patrick?) - playing among the clouds really (well, those that dropped down to the 7th floor). The boards were nice as well, though many had a distinct lack of trees.

[Oscar award acceptance moment]My jaw hit the floor when I was awarded with 2nd place overall as well as a Best Painted, Large Model. I am very appreciative of everyone that put in for me to get there. [/Oscar award acceptance moment]





The real prize, though, [violins] was seeing so many familiar faces that were not swinging sacks of doorknobs at me as well as making a few new acquaintances. [/violins]

It was a great time all the way around – I highly encourage everyone to sell their homes and wait in line for Lonewolf 2008 now.

Other results:

http://www.lonewolfgt.com/results.html

http://www.lonewolfgt.com/results-07-painting.html

[Beastlord Karankawa]

I played against my regular sparing partner on Jan 29th in preparation for the up coming Lonewolf 2008.

Below is a list I am testing out – a true undivided beast army.

Undivided GBS (with Shadow Magic)
2 x Level 2 Shaman (with Shadow Magic)
1 x Bestigors
2 x Herds
4 x Hounds
4 x Chariots
3 x Minotaurs
1 x Furies
2 x Spawn

Opponent – Chuck Gavlack – New HELF army (strangely enough one I painted for him)

HELF Mage Lord (with Fire and IR Book of nonsense)
HELF Level 2 (with High Magic)
2 x Spear Blocks
1 x Sword Block
1 x White Lion Block
3 x Lion Chariots
3 x Eagles

Scenario – Random Selection – 500 victory points
Beastman Objective – Rescue the Captive (which was tucked away in the White Lion unit)
HELF Objective – cause 3 or more psychology tests (this was a given – did not even bother keeping track).

Summary – I went into this thinking that it was going to be a very rough game and that I would need to have everything go my way for a chance to win. Large blocks of HELF infantry could only be tackled seriously by my chariots – so I lined up all four chariots out front of my force and pointed directly at as many HELF blocks as possible. Here is how they faired of the course of the game:

Chariot #1 – destroyed by magic missiles from the HELF lord in the first turn (HELF went first with +2 to go first magic item).

Chariot #2 – Launched into a White Lion Chariot due to IR force on Unseen Lurker. Not only did the White Lion Chariot live (I could only put 3 wounds on it!!), it put 4 wounds back on the beast chariot and over ran.

Chariot #3 – wounded by magic missiles from the HELF lord in the second turn and then finished off by White Lion Chariot #1.

Chariot #4 – down to 2 wounds from magic missiles, it charged recklessly at the offending White Lion unit that not only housed the HELF lord, but also the Captive. I pretty much wrote this off, expecting it to die in combat – but it was better than getting blasted to death by magic. 5 impact hits killed off 5 of the White Lions (they were 7 across and 3 ranks deep). The champion HELF struck next (ASF), but only put on one additional wound on the chariot. The HELF lord went next, but failed to hit. The chariot crew then brought down 3 more evil White Lions. The chariot had actually won the combat! The HELF general wasn’t worried as his troops were quite stubborn – only he botched the roll! They broke and ran toward a cluster of trees. The chariot then pursued and mowed them down with vengeance – and stopped with an inch to spare before hitting the obstacle! That unit, with HELF lord, and Captive – netted 1500 victory points! In my next turn, I forgot to even move the chariot – it was in a prime location to being smacking the next unit, but I simply forgot all about it. The HELF general then charged it himself with a large spear block to the front. I elected to flee, and assuming we did it right, it fled right through a giant eagle that was trying to block its movement. Five impact hits later, in a cloud of feathers, the chariot continued its flee off the table and going down as one of the most powerful 85 points units that I have ever seen!

Well, Chuck took a fair number of chariots himself – new, shiny, fear causing, 6 x Str 5 attacks + impact hits – each. Here is how they played out.

Chariot #1 – after smashing through a beastman chariot, continued to move through the beastman deployment zone. It charged into a second beastman chariot (#3) and pulverized it. It was charged in the flank by a herd, but they failed their fear check and never made it. It them moved around a bit, trying to dodge a barrage of Creeping Death (3D6 str 1 hits with no armor save) and tackle some hound units that seemed to annoy it (and also forgetting to move it for a turn as well). Finally, Creeping Death claimed it, even under the effects of Drain Magic.

Chariot #2 – struck out early with its buddy, Chariot #3, and steam rolled through a spawn. I have no idea really what I was thinking when I set up spawn in front of my bestigor unit with GBS (and having a Level 2 shaman also “leap” out of a doomed herd and join as well). Each chariot hit a spawn, plowed right through them, and impacted right into my Bestigors. During my turn, I was able to “leap” out my GBS to a safe spot behind a large terrain piece at the center of the table. The Level 2 shaman was not so fortunate. A unit of Minotaurs near by was able to flank charge Chariot #2 – but then it was on to HTH combat – no other help was coming. Between the impact hits and attacks from both HELF chariots, approx 7 Bestigors were flung to their deaths. The flanking Minotaurs then took their great weapons and demolished Chariot #2, and there was much rejoicing.

Chariot #3 – the continuing story. The final HELF White Lion Chariot survived against a few attacks from the bestigor champion, and the resulting score had the beastmen losing by 2. It was a great fight, and the party was over, and I was looking for some courage for my troops (insane or otherwise) – and I got it! The Bestigors passed their break check on a 5! The flanking Minotaurs were not near as fortunate and fled from the combat – grrrrr – they could have really saved my bacon in the next round! However, for the next several rounds, Chariot #3 and the bestigor unit exchanged blows. The level 2 shaman was able to “leap” out and it came down to the final wounds on both units. The chariot had 1 wound left (it had been losing combat, but passing break checks easy enough) and the bestigor unit had the champion and standard-bearer. The HELF’s then were able to cleave the champion and won the combat – outnumbering by fear now – the standard bearer took to the hills and eventually ran off the board. With the chariot no longer in HTH, it was an easy target for Creeping Death the following turn (again under Drain Magic) and its last wound was taken.

Over the course of the game, the remaining HELF eagles suffered from magic missiles and getting charged by Minotaurs (Chuck forgot to move it).

We also experimented with other charges with the HELF troops. I tried allowing a HELF spear block charge a 19 strong herd with Level 2 shaman – mostly due to combat resolution and the loss of 4 gors, the herd broke and later rallied. Only 3 HELF’s died in return. I then charged a unit of 3 Minotaurs into the front of the HELF spears, and they suffered the 9+ wounds required to wipe out the whole unit. I knew the Minotaurs would lose combat, but to see them wiped out before even striking was very unnerving. I was going to have a combined charge of furies and 2 Minotaur units on the HELF sword masters, but 8 of the furies were burned to a crisp and one of the Minotaur units fled from a panic test (11 and then 11 again on the dice rolls). The final Minotaur unit charged, took about 5 wounds, then unloaded upon the HELF Level 2 mage with 6 attacks – dropping him and his pesky Drain Magic ability!

Here are some pictures to help with the flow (as mentioned above)

My set up (from my right) - you can see how exposed my chariots were set up, but I really thought I could shoot them across the board and into nice juice T3 infantry blocks.


HELF set up (from my right)


Turn 01 - the launching of chariot #1


Turn 02 - the death of the spawn


Turn 02B - the death of 1000 points!


Turn 03 - grinding down


Turn 04 - cleaning out the middle


Turn 05 - working for better positions


Turn 06 - end state / Minotaur Assassins


Result – Beastmen win! All characters survived, 1 herd survived, 3 hound units survived, 1 Minotaur unit survived, and 2 furies. HELF’s had the two spear blocks and the sword master unit. I lost my captive when the chariot fled, and I easily gave up the victory condition on the psychology tests. I had one table quarter and the other 3 were contested. It was an extremely blood fight, mistakes made on both sides, and even a few lucky breaks for each of us. On pure points, it was a (lucky) major win for the beastmen!

Unit of the match? The final chariot (#4) clearly swung the game in my favor in a single turn (#2). Not only racking up so many victory points, but also removing the HELF Mage Lord threat (that would have other wise burned my right flank to a crisp) and the nasty unit he was with.

What would I do differently? Quite a bit –
– Against the T3 armies with little armor, Death magic missiles may have been a much better choice. After the death of the HELF Lord, I held the magic supremacy and many many D6 Str 4 missiles could have brought down some of those HELF blocks and given my units a chance in HTH.
– Use those hounds better – I kept them back and essentially didn’t do anything. They should have been more up front blocking LOS and absorbing magic! These are some of our best units, and I let them down.
– Use those chariots better – beastmen chariots are not an assault force – they are a counter assault force (an extra inch or so and that would be fine as assault units, but they couldn’t match the HELF chariots for speed). Keep them back, keep them safe, and wait for the right moment instead of trying to force it.
- Use the furies better – I had them in some great positions to march block and snatch up any stray model that exposed itself, but I never really engaged them. I was quite cautious with the little daemons – mindful of the HELF ASF abilities, but then when the time was right, they were all ready decimated and combat ineffective.
- Use the spawn better – they both started out great by zooming out 9 inches each, but they zoomed straight ahead into the path of 2 chariots – dumb dumb dumb. There really wasn’t a great place to use them (maybe against a spear block), but to have them be the perfect speed bumps to allow 10 and 11 inch overruns into my Bestigors needs much improvement.
- Combined arms – I had a strong defense in depth – counter charging minotaurs at every turn, but my charges were not well organized and units went out one on one – 90% of them getting pounded into the dirt. Combine unit charges with chariot charges – hopefully those chariots can do enough impact to pull out the front rank to lesson the ASF attacks.

[Beastlord Karankawa]

The following is my account of the 2008 Lonewolf Indy GT held in Dallas, TX from Feb 29th through March 2nd – at least to the best of my abilities to remember all the great moments (and those not as great as they should have been!).

Below is the list I wanted to try out (the list I spent several weeks worth of late nights painting on to touch up and revamp models that I painted some 10 years ago. I am working to update the army for as much “anti woods” as possible – so lots of fallen trees and leaves everywhere.

Beastmen Undivided List -
Great Bray-Shaman - Coahuitecan
Bray-Shaman - Caranchaua
Bestigor Herd (16#, 272 Pts)
Chaos Hounds (5#, 30 Pts) x 4
Tuskgor Chariot (1#, 85 Pts) x 4
Beast Herd (16#, 117 Pts) x 3
Minotaurs (3#, 158 Pts) x 1
Minotaurs (3#, 138 Pts) x 2
Chaos Furies (10#, 150 Pts)
Chaos Spawn (1#, 60 Pts) x 2

Day 0 (Friday, February 29th)
Opponent - Andy – Dwarfs



Army List-
Dwarf Lord
Dwarf Thane
Dwarf Warriors (small blocks) x 4
Crossbowmen
Iron Breakers
Hammerers
Bolt Throwers x 2
Organ Gun
Gyrocopter


Scenario – Pitch battle (some other scenario bonuses that neither of us obtained)

Summary – Andy is a great opponent, one that I have played against several times over the past many years. He mainly plays High Elves, but he had Dwarfs today to help fill in for any “odd” number of players for the tournament.

His deployment was very suiting – units supporting units supporting units. My deployment was awful, units cowering behind units cowering behind units – this was mainly due to my (1) inexperience with this army and (2) wanting to preserve my chariots from the bolt throwers and (3) wanting to get my spell casters in range to use their magic.



During the first few turns, he did a great job lining up all kinds of panic possibilities with his shooting. I had a herd panic through several other units and cause a chariot to panic through the same herd again and then off the table. I had dogs that just kept running.

I did manage to out flank the dwarf army near the end of the game, but found that I really ignored his large blocks. The Gyro copter ran a little too close to the table edge and was set upon by a herd that drove it off the board.

The smaller dwarf units were hit with magic missiles and a few light units (herds primarily).



I spent a long time trying to take out his organ gun with magic missiles, and my minotaurs and chariots did not count for much other than targets for the Dwarf general. I committed two herds to fighting off a bolt thrower crew – but neither were able to dispatch the stubborn engineer.



Result – We did not count up VP’s, Andy considering that I had table quarters and left him with his two large blocks and an untouched bolt thrower. It was a hard fought game and my inexperience really shined!

Unit of the match? The Bestigors! They did not get into hand to hand, but they took a lot of punishment as they guarded the beast shamans from harm. The Banner of Wrath they carried was able to weaken a few units, including the organ gun. None of my units really did anything amazing, however.



[[To be continued]]

[Beastlord Karankawa]

Day 1 (Saturday, March 1st)
Game 1 Opponent – Ryan Hayward - Woodelves



Army List -
WELF Noble
Treeman Ancient
Branchwraith
3 x 10 Glade Guards
1 x 6 Glade Scouts
3 x 8 Dryads
1 x 8 Wild Riders
1 x 7 Wardancers
1 x Great Eagle
1 x 3 Warhawk Riders

Scenario – The Cowboys’ Curse (you can affect your player in 6 different ways during the game, effects depending on the game turn – the objective is to have more banners at the end of the game than your opponent and provide them to ‘Jessica’.

Summary – This was going to prove to be a difficult game has Ryan’s list was really designed to stay out of hand to hand for the most part. His deployment was designed to crash my left flank with fliers, treeman, and Wildriders with WELF noble while pestering me with 30+ shots from the Glade Guard who were being protected by the Wardancers and Dryads.



I did a poor set up again – too many “easy to panic units” in front of units that I did not want to take panic checks with (ie chariots, minotaurs, hounds, bestigors).

Ryan elected that I should go first – which was a strong move. My magic was all out of range so there were no causalities on my turn. I was then peppered with magic and shooting from the WELF turn.

When I did get in range, my magic (Death spells – magic missiles) accounted for:
- knocking a dryad unit from play
- 1 Wardancer
- knocking another Dryad unit down
- knocking an Glade Guard unit down
- blasting the Great Eagle
- blasting the Warhawk riders down

The WELF ranged assault was focused primarily on my bestigor unit (killed the whole unit after about 5 turns) and a few scattered minotaurs and such.

Points of interest include:
- Beastman left flank survived the fast moving WELF assault unit thanks to some hounds, the furies, a herd, a pair of chariots and some favorable rolls. The aerial assault was hampered by the magic missiles and were finished off in HTH. The Wild Riders can crashing into some hounds initially that led them away. Then they crashed into a herd that held its own by stripping away several of the actual Wild Riders. They broke then rallied to assault time and time again though. I believe it was a final chariot charge that rid me of the WELF Noble in the end. The treeman was taken down to half wounds mainly due to a favorable chariot charge (overrun), but it laid waste to everything else it touched – so units dove out of its line of site left and right.
- Beastman right flank was supported by a pair of chariots, two screening herds, two units of minotaurs and two spawn. This flank was relatively fresh – having only to deal with the Glade Scouts initially. Near the end of the game, they threatened the WELF center line and Ryan began to send forth his remaining Dryads and Wardancer. Herds and Spawn removed one unit of Dryads and were engaged with another at the end of the game. The Wardancers got the charge off on my unit of minotaurs with champion – and quickly took off 8 wounds and leaving the champion with a single wound as the units only survivor. He had not given up though as “double ones” came up for the break test! The second round of combat saw all the Wardancers whiff – and losing 3 of their own! They then broke and were run down by my Bloodkine! We were both rather stunned.
- Time constraints really ate into our game – we did not get into turn 6. A large beastman force is slower to play than most armies for me, and the scenario really made you think each turn about the best way to “curse” someone.

End Game Left Flank


End Game Right Flank


Result - Max victory points and max scenario points – I had eeked out a win (1346 vps to 798 vps) and held on to my banners.

Unit of the match? Its really hard to choose. The furies did decent, as did the Bestigors, but I’m giving it to the Bloodkine’s minotaur unit for standing their ground against an onslaught of WELF blades.

Lessons Learned? Don’t put units that are prone to panic in positions to panic (itself) or other units behind it. Strengthen them with LD bonus or adjust your deployment so that they are not “hurting” more than they are to “help”.

[Beastlord Karankawa]

Game 02!

Game 2 Opponent – Jeff Garcia– Vampire Counts



Army List -
Strigoi Vampire Lord w/ infinite hatred, iron sinews, and massive monstrosity
2 x Necromancers with Book of Arkhan and Staff of Damnation (and dispel scroll)
2 x 24 Skeletons with full command
3 x 20 Zombies with musicians
1 x 5 ghouls
1 x 6 ghouls
1 x 19 Grave Guard with full command
1 x Banshee
1 x 3 Spirit Host

Scenario – Texas Thunderstorm – the player with the most core, special, and rare units “dry” gains the objective. If a unit is in the rain, it can not shoot, cast, or march.

Summary – I was somewhat thankful that the new Vampire Book was not out long enough to be included in the tournament. That being said, I continually struggle tackling Undead armies with my beastmen, let alone my undivided beastmen. I knew I was in for a tough ride and Jeff comes from a decent line of great players, and is one himself.



You can see in the image how his deployment was set up. He kept the characters and skeleton / grave guard units to the rear (for supporting charge), zombies up front, and ethereals and skirmishers to the flanks.

I was able to be a bit more brave about setting up against this force – it had no shooting and relative light magic compared to the magical defense I had (5 dispel dice and 2 scrolls).

With the rain coming (my right to my left), I put herds out to my right, knowing that the lack of shooting, lack of magic, and low points made them great units for harassing that flank and taking table quarters. Chariots were deployed in pairs, one pair on the right flank (again – rain wasn’t going to bother them any) and one pair in the middle. Bestigors, minotaurs, spawn, etc were fairly left of the middle of the table. My hounds were planning on selling their lives cheap as crucial march blockers, decoys, and diverters. On my far left, I deployed two herds and both shaman (one in each herd).

My Plan – with my shaman running up the left flank with a herd, they were to essentially harass the ethereals with magic missiles and anything else they could blast. The chariots, free from shooting and magic missiles for the most part, were to work on any unit that contained a character (trying to avoid getting stuck anywhere else). Minotaurs, using there speed, were to take advantage of any flanks that were presented (zombies or not) while the spawn held the lead units in place (to block out anything from the rear from moving forward.

How did it turn out? The first few turns were some exchange of magic and some positioning moves. The undead horde marched ahead and separated out a little so that zombies were a good 2-3 inches in front of the rear ranks. Jeff bolstered up his zombie units with magic, and I worked on stopping any damage or dance spells.

Turn 3 was the pivotal turn though. Jeff moved his vampire lord into one of the zombie units and turned it slightly to prepare for a charge with two of my chariots and a minotaur unit. To protect his flank, he moved a second zombie unit up. During my turn, I cast all caution to the wind (its just a game) and charged with the chariots and minotaur unit at the vampire lord’s unit (everyone passed their fear check that needed to) and then sent my other pair of chariots into the flank of the zombie unit protecting the flank (also passing the required fear checks – eventually). There were some other charges that turn, but they did not really do much for the rest of the game.

So, as luck would have it, the chariots that engaged the flank of the protecting zombie unit hit for 11 impact wounds. This was exactly the type of result I needed – anything else, for the most part, would result in getting bogged down. Thanks to the Tuskgors and Crew, 6 more zombies fell and the entire unit popped. The pair of chariots then overran (making it easy enough of 3D6) into the flank of the vampire lords’ zombie unit (all ready engaged). The combination of 4 chariot impact hits was 18 wounds. The vampire lord challenged my minotaur champion – and they each exchanged only one wound. The remaining minotaurs and chariot crew totaled in another 12 zombies. The end result was one “poofed” zombie unit with vampire lord.



The "gaping hole" in front of the chariots and minotaur was were the vampire lord's unit was.

The rear elements of the undead army surged forward in anger as models began dropping left and right, but they contacted one of the flanking chariots and caused it to break and flee through two others (one was destroyed and one had a wound remaining).

Over the next few turns, there were other charges and such and minimal losses from both sides. My magic phased picked up a bit, but the necromancers still did a great job in protection.

Result - In the end, I had more units dry for the objective and enough victory points for the win.

Unit of the match? Its tough to chose in this one. The flanking chariots did an amazing job popping a large zombie unit on the charge to get in and help with the other HTH. The minotaur champion did amazing as well – going toe to toe with a vampire lord and living.

Lessons Learned? The games are to be more about having fun than winning. Sure, its nice to win, but if it cost you a friendship, its not worth it. There was some discussion as to how the flanking pair of chariots would both make it in combat, and I demonstrated how, but really, I feel I should have backed down to help ensure the game was enjoyable on both sides.

[Beastlord Karankawa]

Game 3 Opponent – Matt LeClair - Dwarfs



Army List -
Rune Lord with Anvil
2 x 20+ Dwarf warrior blocks with hand weapon and shield
20+ Dwarf Ironbreakers
2 x Strength 7 Bolt throwers
10+ Miners
1 x Organ Gun
10+ Rangers / Crossbowmen
10+ Dwarf warriors with great weapons



Scenario – Lone Ranger (one model from the unit with the highest cost per model in your army becomes the Lone Ranger and gains a 5+ ward save, a horse if all ready mounted, loner model that can’t join other units, and silver bullets he can fire from his pistol – yes, one of my mighty Minotaurs became a lowly 30 point Lone Ranger).

Summary – Dwarfs are normally a tough nut to crack, but many generals don’t see beastmen as a threat and can deploy as such – which allows me an advantage more often than not. This game was going to be different.

You can see in the image how his deployment was set up. He castled in the corner (thus not really having any flanks), on a hill, and deprived me of any real useful areas to ambush. Matt respected the beastmen.

My deployment, to match up favorably, was quite hindered. The hill with the bolt throwers meant my chariots had to hold back (on hind site I should have just run them out there). My many many units had to occupy quite a bit of my deployment zone and I was not going to be able to bring to bear my army in one fail swoop.

My Plan – slower moving units were to advance along my right flank (chariots mainly, two herds and two minotaurs for support). The faster elements (or those with range) went around the left flank as fast as possible to hopefully match up and hit the dwarf line enforce.

How did it turn out? The magic of the beastmen army did well in dropping the organ gun before it could fire. It also removed most of the miners and hindered a few other units. The right flank stalled out as a herd engaged the first bolt thrower and stayed there as the engineer remained stubborn and untouchable. The first herd died out eventually due to dwarf counter charges, who in turn died out to minotaurs. At the end of the game, I was able to tie up the 2nd bolt thrower in hand to hand, but that was as far as it got. Did not even get close to the rune lord. I was never enforce enough to engage the dwarf blocks. Having the right flank stall meant that I would not get into the flanks of the warrior blocks, which would mean that I had a very slim chance for victory there. Instead, aside from the 2 warrior blocks, the iron breakers, the rune lord, and the stubborn engineer on the last bolt thrower.

Result – The victory points resulted in a draw (I could have done a little better had I remembered to bring on my ambushing hounds to claim the table quarter – I had forgotten about the change in 7th about claiming quarters and one unit I had in position did not qualifiy). I did remove his Lone Ranger from play during the whole right flank charge / counter charge. Mine was untouched with afforded me the objective of the fight.



Unit of the match? I would default to the GBS in being able to drop the organ gun in turn of magic. That war machine is particularly nasty against herds and I was glad I did not have to worry about it much.

Lessons Learned? Playing a game where a force is cornered up was only so-so on the fun board with beastmen. It’s a great strategy, and quite challenging, but it removes a lot of elements from the game. Had I taken my Slaanesh list, it would have been a bit easier to work with as pure magic missiles are generally laughed at by dwarf players. When they are frenzied or frozen or dancing out of formation – that is when dwarf players start crying.

[Beastlord Karankawa]

It was after game three that we had a little photo session (see if you recognize anyone):



We had another session on Sunday, but better to get it all here. Say hello to the Herdstoners that attended!

[Beastlord Karankawa]

Day 2: Game 4 Opponent – Stefan Viterstedt – DELFS



Army List -
2 x Bolt Throwers
2 x 5 Dark Riders
2 x DELF Chariots
1 x 10 Executioners
1 x 10 DELF’s with crossbows
2 x 18 Witch Elves with full command and magic banners
1 x High Sorceress with 3 x dispel scrolls and Dark Star Cloak
1 x Noble / BSB
1 x Cauldron of Blood



Scenario – Oil Well (you could take the offensive stance or defensive stance and take / defend an oil well). If you choose to attack – you set up a little closer and got an extra D6” move for all units. If you choose to defend – units within 8” received +1 combat resolution. I chose to defend as it proves to be a much easier objective to take. Stefan went for attack. The big thing was – this was not a pitched battle so I could not ambush…finally have a great time to throw several units into ambush…but no.

Summary – I don’t have a lot of experience with the DELF army, but I knew they were nimble, shooty, magically inclined, and fast. I felt my list actually compared well against Stefan’s as the herds and furies were nimble as well; most of my units skirmished or were cheap so shooty was some what negated. I had a good supply of magic defense to close down much of the enemy magic phase, and most of the beast units were 5 or better on the move as well.

My Plan – Line up and jump on them quickly?

How did it turn out? Stefan knew his army very well, and being a Herdstoner himself, knew beastmen quite well as well. I blundered another deployment and suffered for it as some of the larger units panic some support off the board (chariot, hounds, etc). There was a lot of tit for tat – charge, counter charge, charge, etc. I was more cautious that I should have been for my army (and my plan) and Stefan got the better of it. My dice were also stone cold (see the picture below - yes 5 x 1's for imact hits that cost me the combat).



Result – We were running behind in the game, mostly due to me sweating it out and jumping up and down on my dice. I suggested that we end the game at the end of Turn 5 because we would not have time complete turn 6. I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. Play the game as long as you can, with as much as you can. I felt Stefan felt a little cheated out of some points in turn 6 (I know I have been the same place), but he agreed that turn 5 would be the end of it. All things said and done – it was a time (with less than 100 points between us). I was able to hold my objective and keep Stefan from his.

Unit of the match? In this game of tit for tat – bait units ruled the day. My chaos hounds were able to threaten, miss-align charges, and generally cause havoc everywhere.

Lessons Learned? I have to be more familiar with the armies I bring to tournaments. Running out of time is just frustrating! I had only a handful of games with my undivided Beastmen and I should have been much more prepared.

[Beastlord Karankawa]

Day 2: Game 5 Opponent – Chris Bourdon - Beastmen (Khorne)



Army List -
3 x characters for HTH (marks of Khorne)
3 x minotaurs of Khorne
1 x Bestigor of Khorne
2 x chariots
4 x hounds
3 x herds
1 x furies

Scenario – Texas Hold’em (there were 8 cards to choose from, each worth a scenario point should you achieve the objective – each object was worth 1 point and included the following: having more standards, killing opponent general, control more table quarters, kill most expensive unit, don’t get massacred, being in opponent’s deployment zone, kill enemy wizards, keep cheapest character alive).



Summary – Of all the battles that went on during the tournament, this was the most enjoyable. Beastmen on Beastmen is simply a blast due to all the checks, botched psych rolls, skirmisher on skirmisher, etc. I wish I could do the game justice and report on everything.

My Plan – I had numbers on Chris (fellow Herdstoner by the way) and was wanting to draw him into my center and envelope his troops. With all the marks of Khorne, I was hoping this would be fairly easy to do.

How did it turn out? As I mentioned earlier, this game was quite enjoyable (for both of us). There was a lot of tit for tat action, ambushing, counter ambushing, etc etc. On the right flank, Chris had an ambush come in near the corner – into the arms of one of my herds. I got the charge of and was ready to cream that unit, until my dice went south again and I lost the combat – Khorne was quite pleased and the herd continue to run through my deployment zone for a while (until I pointed my bestigor unit at it). The middle of the board was a traffic pile up as minotaur was lined up on minotaur – but we each had our blocking hounds in the way. Who ever charged first was (ie going for the bait) was going to get counter charged significantly.

The left flank was supported by a pair of chariots and a herd. Once the Chris was finished with his ambushing, I sent my furies that way to. This was a mirror of what Chris was doing, but on this flank I got the better (only marginally). My furies were able to get the jump on Chris’s furies (and sent them packing). Eventually, my characters hiding out in a group of ruins, saw the Khorne troops blow by them, and the middle troops, and the left flank troops, and the right flank troops. They continued to blast away with magic when they could, but not much really went through the tall pile of dispel dice.

In the middle, Chris was the one who charged in first, but my troops just were not up to it and gave ground there too.

Somehow or another, a few of my counter charge units (chariots, minotaurs, etc) were able to do enough damage to bring the game into a draw. My bestigor unit ended up being charged by two herds (rear and front) on the final turn, but thanks to passing a break check on a “3” – they stayed firm and denied Chris the points that would have pushed the draw much more into his favor.



Result – The game finished in a tie, and I claimed one more objective than Chris (not that I remember what it was at this point).

Unit of the match? Bestigors – those point denying, magic banner toting, stay to the end of the game though hopelessly outnumbered warriors of the waste!

Lessons Learned? This game was really just about fun. Chris and I (and others) were hanging around the weekend and I was very happy to have a chance to play him in the final game. Those Khorne boys are rough…but lets see next time how they do against my Slaanesh list!

[Beastlord Karankawa]

As far as the 2008 Lonewolf Tournament went, the ship sailed smoothly the whole time (again) and I did not even try to gum it up this year. [clapping hands] Bret, David, Andy, Mark, Mike, Jim and the rest that helped with the event really contributed to making this event first class (again – if you had the chance to go, and you didn’t, you missed out!). [/clapping hands]. I am continually impressed Lonewolf, and I was very impressed with the venue (again) spacious, floor the ceiling windows, well air conditioned and just an out and out joy to play in . The boards were nice as well, though many had a distinct lack of trees – still having a draught I suppose.

[Oscar award acceptance moment] Couple of things to mention here. First all, my club associates turned out top scores and became the dominant group at the event. We were each awarded a blister of some such. I came across a Beastlord model that no one was looking at and I claimed it. Next, I had answered a trivia question correctly while the scores were being added up - I don’t remember the question, but it involved numbers, so I quickly shouted out numbers until the correct one came up. For this, I was rewarded with a pick of box sets. There was a herd box that no one was interested in, so I took that. You just can’t have too many beastmen.



When the points were all totaled and the prizes given out, I was awarded a 3rd Best Army! I have had overalls, seconds, best generals, etc, but I had never placed in Best Army (conversions, painting, appearance, theme, basing, presentation, etc) – so I was thrilled!





Overall in the ratings, I came in 11th (which was much higher that I expected based on how little experience I had and how many chariots I had!)[/Oscar award acceptance moment]

The real prize, though, [violins] was seeing all the old timers again and just having a great time of the weekend. It was also great to put a face to some of the Herdstoners![/violins]

It was a great time all the way around – I highly encourage everyone to get in line now for Lonewolf 2009!

[Beastlord Karankawa]

And then finally - photos of my troopers:























Thanks for waiting!!

[Beastlord Karankawa]

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Recently during my “world tour” of Arkansas, I was able to convince long time nemesis, Cody Johnson, the “good brother” of Jason Johnson, to invite me in and play me in a WHFB game. Cody is one of the best players that I know (hobbiers for that matter – his armies are stunning to see as well). Normally he, or his brother, is placing very high in the rankings at every tournament he attends.

He was preparing a dwarf list for the up coming Hillbilly in a few weeks and was somewhat eager to play against the new daemon list (which at the time is my “travel size” army). This worked out well as I have not had much experience against a dwarf army with my Nurgle Daemons and we were both interested to see what would happen when two very tough, somewhat slow, lists clashed.

Below is a list that I brought (I only wanted to use my “maggoty” troops for the battle):

GUO (level 4, Trappings of Nurgle, Nurgle’s Rot, Stream of Bile)
Herald (level 1, BSB, Standard of Chaos Glory, Staff of Nurgle)
Herald (level 1, Palanquin, Slime Trail, Noxious Vapors)
Plaguebearers x 18 (Full Command with Banner of Seeping Decay)
Plaguebearers x 17 (Full Command with Banner of Seeping Decay)
Plaguebearers x 10
Nurglings x 4
Nurglings x 4
Nurglings x 4



- In writing this report, each main Plaguebearer unit should have only been 13 strong, but the numbers above made it to the table – not sure of the impact of the additional models in the game though.
- The GUO is not my normal build (if I can claim that after 3 games or so). I wanted to continue with Nurgle Infestation, but I did not have enough Nurglings to support. Then I wanted to run with 3 Heralds on Palanquins, but my only BSB at this point is on foot (working to correct that now). This would have provided a lot more points to bring in more Plaguebearers and Nurglings. However, considering that I was limited number “maggoty” models that I had to work with, the GUO jumped back into the list with some gadgets to try out – and messing up my count on Plaguebearers.

Opponent – Cody Johnson – Rune Lord led Dwarf Army



Rune Lord with Anvil
Thane with BSB
1 x Troll Slayers
1 x Hammerers
2 x Warriors
1 x Flaming Cannon w/ engineer
1 x Flaming Bolt Thrower
1 x Organ Gun
1 x Gyrocopter
1 x Rangers
1 x Hand Gunners



Scenario – Pitched Battle (no special objectives since we were just testing out a few things)

Battle plan – This was going to be a great game – two of the hardest, slowest armies in the game going head to head! It would all come down to who outlasted who! Cody had several war machines (including the Anvil) that needed to be dealt with – and hand to hand was the safest place to be. My deployment was left centered – mirrored against the majority of the dwarf rank and file. The Nurglings were to scout ahead and sabotage the Bolt Thrower and Anvil as well as help escort the foot troops into HTH. Once the foot troops were engaged – there were to grind down the dwarf units and get them to auto-break due to outnumber with fear causers. Having the Standard of Chaos Glory in the center of my army should guarantee staying power for even the smallest of my units.

Summary – The plan was holding solid for the first several turns. Scouting Nurglings had greatly threatened the dwarf right most flank, removing the Bolt Thrower by turn 3 as well as munching through the Rangers (who were assigned to help hold the flank) and getting into HTH to hold up the Rune Lord. With these two threats nullified, moving up into HTH was much easier. The gyrocopter continued to be a pain (though out the whole game for that matter) as it avoided LOS to my spell casters, and fled from any charges that I could manage – many march blockings and other annoyances – grr.

The GUO was moving as fast as the march blocking and Anvil would allow him. Before he got into hand to hand, he was able to get a few spells off for minimum damage, and he “streamed” once – killing a dwarf. He did take a cannonball to the gut for 3 wounds on the way in though – but he had plenty more to spare. The dwarf units continued to inch back, buying as much time for shooting as possible, but eventually, the greater daemon reached HTH with the Hammerers led by the BSB. With his mighty 4 attacks, the GUO thumped characters down the line. With his Str 8 flail, he thumped off the dwarf BSB. He then thumped off the unit champion, and so on and so forth. He lost combat every time, but thanks to the Standard of Chaos Glory, he took no wounds due to combat resolution – ever. He was finally joined by the daemon herald BSB and his unit over the next two rounds – they wiped out the Hammerers to a man. Nurgle’s rot, over a period of 4 attempts on 3 models each, removed 2 of the elite warriors. In the final round of that combat, both the BSB and the GUO got off Miasma of Pestilence and the remaining dwarfs fell quickly.

The small Plaguebearers jumped in front of the right most dwarf warrior unit and bought enough time for a unit of Nurglings to charge from the rear. They never did quite destroy the unit, but even with the Thunderers charging in Nurglings’ flank, the dwarfs could not get away and they remained pinned for the rest of the game.

Finally, the other large Plaguebearer unit squared off against a unit of Trollslayers and the left most dwarf warrior unit. Neither side made a charge for a turn, but finally, the Plaguebearers charged in at the Trollslayers – offering its own flank to the dwarf warriors. In three rounds of attacks, the Plaguebearers ripped apart the naked dwarfs with the many poisoned attacks (as well as Miasma for a round). The dwarf warriors, seeing how poorly their shamed kinsmen were doing, chose not to engage the combat and take notes for future reference.



Result – The daemons of Nurgle pulled out a victory against the vile dwarfs – the only unit loss being that of the small Plaguebearer unit (the other two remained above half strength). 2 of the 3 Nurgling bases were below half strength. Both heralds were full strength and the GUO remained above half strength. More importantly, it was a good time in Arkansas with some good friends – testing out army composition and match ups was only a bonus.



Unit of the Match? It’s a close call, but having one of the scouting Nurgling units rampage over the Rangers and tie up the Rune Lord and his Anvil was significant. There was not another unit type that could have gotten to it as fast as it did (surrounded by trees, hills, enemy units, etc). The BSB, with the Standard of Chaos Glory comes in at a close second – preventing many many wounds through combat resolution.

What would I do differently? Quite a bit –
- Paint up more Nurglings! I would have much rather had Nurgling Infestation than both Nurgle’s Rot (which killed two dwarfs) and Stream of Bile (which killed one dwarf). Also, I had to turn away Plague Wind from my spell list (no more models to put out should it work and should dwarfs actually fail a toughness test).
- Paint up command unit! My small Plaguebearer unit could have really used its command group. Combined with the Standard of Chaos Glory, even a small unit is a viable road block!
- Paint up mounted BSB! The larger base size combined with spell effects makes it a much more viable combat multiplier. Add in the bonus that it take the place of 3 US 1 Plaguebearers and provides 6 additional poison attacks – its just too good the leave out.

[Beastlord Karankawa]

Battle report update time:

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Ben Burns - Chaos Mortals (7th Edition Army Book)
Trevor Heilman - Chaos Daemons (7th Edition Army Book)

Event: Lonewolf 2009 Prep
Scenario: “Cowboys and Redskins”

I had the fortune of being not only in town the Friday before the Lonewolf 2009 tournament, but also to be two buildings down (and with Dallas rush hour traffic being what it is, it was an easy call to stick around to visit and maybe even play a game).

I called out Ben Burns earlier in the weak – he appears to be a nemesis for me in Games Workshop type games. I clean his clock from time to time, but as far as experience goes, he has that in spades.

Ben as seen mothering his winning Beastmen Army:


He was preparing for the Lonewolf 2009 for many many months and I had actually played against a version of his mortal army a few months ago with a FAQ’d up Beastmen list. That game went fairly well, but the tides did not go my way and I was soundly defeated. Was now the time to get revenge? Not really, but it was fun regardless. Let it also be known that when I do beat Ben prior to a tournament, he does very well during said tournament.

Below is a list that I brought (I only wanted to use my “maggoty” troops for the battle):

Characters:
GUO (level 3, Trappings of Nurgle, Nurgling Infestation)
Herald (level 1, BSB, Banner of Hellfire, Palanquin, Noxious Vapors, Stream of Bile)
Herald (level 1, Palanquin, Noxious Vapors, Stream of Bile)

Core:
Plaguebearers x 14 (Full Command with Banner of Seeping Decay)
Plaguebearers x 14 (Full Command with Banner of Seeping Decay)
Plaguebearers x 10

Special:
Nurglings x 4
Nurglings x 4
Nurglings x 3

Rare:
None

Total Points: 2250

Power Dice: 7
Dispel Dice: 6


- The above list was quite experimental. Typically, Papa Nurgle comes with Level 4 abilities to add in the magical offense and my BSB comes with the Great Standard of Sundering. In a game I played the Thursday prior (against the 7th Edition Lizardmen), my opponent jumped up and down that I should cut out some points to get the Banner of Hellfire. Being a fun game and all – it sounded like a good chance to try it out.

Opponent – Ben Burns – All Cav Chaos Mortal Army – aka Centaurs of Chaos





Characters:
Orm’ete: Chaos Sorcerer Lvl 4 w/Chaos Steed, Chaos Armor, 424
2x D Scrolls, Mark of Tzeentch, Golden Eye of Tzeentch,
Spell Familiar, Bloodcurdling Roar, General, Lore of Tzeentch

Tanother, the Puppet Master: Chaos Sorcerer Lvl 2 w/Chaos Steed, 196
Chaos Armor, Infernal Puppet, 3rd Eye of Tzeentch, Lore of Death or Fire

Bocari: Exalted hero w/Chaos Steed, Chaos Armor, Favour of the Gods, 175
Collar of Khorne, Bronze Armor, Flail

Core:
5 Marauder Horsemen w/Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, musician 96
5 Marauder Horsemen w/Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, musician 96
5 Marauder Horsemen w/Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, musician 96
5 Marauder Horsemen w/Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, musician 96
5 Marauder Horsemen w/Light Armor, Flails, Throwing Axes, musician 96

Special:
5 Chaos Knights w/Musician, standard, Banner of Rage 265
5 Chaos Knights w/Musician, standard, Rapturous Standard 250
5 Chaos Knights w/Musician, standard 230
5 Chaos Knights w/Musician, standard 230

Rare:
None

Total Points: 2250

Power Dice: 8
Dispel Dice: 5 + 2 scrolls

Scenario – “Cowboys and Redskins” – essentially a Pitched Battle with a few special bonuses for killing / wounding certain troop types – points based on Football scores (touchdowns, field goals, safeties, extra points, etc).

Battle plan – Well – had this great banner to go try out that was to do a lot of the work for me (a 24” bubble of doom as it is that is a bound level 5 spell that distributes D6 Str 6 to every enemy unit within 12” of the bearer – even affecting those units in hand to hand combat). Plan was essentially to run up to the middle of the board, use some terrain to help protect the flanks, allow those nasty HTH units to engage my infantry blocks while Papa Nurgle and the Nurglings harassed various other fast cav / knight blocks.





Summary – The plan was holding solid for the first few turns. Two units of scouting Nurglings had threatened the Centaurs right most flank, and the Centaurs sent close to a third of the army over there to remove them – which they eventually did fairly easy. I was not expecting the miniature daemons to do much against the Chaos Knights, but I did expect them to do much better – especially when getting a charge off on the rear of some Marauder Cav!

Papa Nurgle moved up with his Herald led Plaguebearer blocks – growing Nurglings along the way. He grew a nice size unit that was quickly engaged by another Chaos Knight unit whose flanks, were well guarded by all kinds of intervening fast cav. Eventually, Papa Nurgle was able to get engaged in combat – and with Str 8 hits on the horizon – sure to be the doom of a knight or two – he whiffed. The Daemons lost the combat due to the death of many a Nurgling, and eventually, after several rounds of combat which lead to many whiffs and wounds on Papa Nurgle (due to combat resolution and all) – all the Nurglings vanished. It was easy then for Papa Nurgle to crush the unit and scare it off the board. Must keep that in mind – it’s the old vampire block trick come to haunt me – do enough combat resolution to the unit – you will pop the character.

The small Plaguebearer unit essentially hid the game on a table quarter behind a large rock. Some fast cav was able to get back there and harass them, but the daemons drove away all such challengers.

Finally, the main Plaguebearer units, each led by a Herald, saw little action for most of the game. All the cav units kept their distance until they got a combined charge off in turn six. Prior to that, the units were peppered with magic. Thanks to the only miscast in the game (and the broken Infernal Puppet magic item), the Level 4 Tzeentch Mortal was able to cast Infernal Gateway on a large daemon unit. Breaths were held until Ben botched the roll to remove the unit out right (BSB led Plaguebearer unit – loss of that unit in turn 2 would have be even more disastrous). The Centaur mages also got of several rounds of Pandemonium to aid in their magic defense – but it never really came into play as the wizened Nurgle Daemons refused to roll any doubles for their spell casting. Turn six, after two rounds of combat, charged in the rear and front by Chaos Knight (one of which frenzied and the other led by a character) – the smaller Plaguebearer unit popped – securing a minor victory for Ben.



Result – The daemons lost quite a bit - Papa Nurgle was down to half points, all the Nurglings were destroyed, and one large PB unit with Herald was popped. The daemons did a bit of damage to (few fast cav units and a few knight units), but the speed of the all cav list was something that the slower daemons could not handle during the game. The Nurgle Daemon List plays like fly paper – it’s deadly if you touch it, but its not really going to catch quick moving units. Overall – still a great game full of lessons!

Unit of the Match? Hard to say, but Papa Nurgle perhaps did the most damage (eventually). Once his HTH with the Chaos Knights was free of Nurglings – he pretty much had his way with them (which is what you would expect for a 600+ point model).

What would I do differently? Quite a bit –
- Drop the Banner of Hellfire for one – this Mono-Nurgle build just does not have enough magical offense to ever get the spell off. Even if my opponents have to hold 2 dispel dice in reserve, magic is still king in many ways in this day and age and most if not all armies can easily deal with 7 power dice and a bound level 5 spell. Additionally, having that banner justify my whole battle plan was a bad plan. Back to the tried and true Great Standard of Sundering.
- Use scouting Nurglings more cautiously – one unit would have been fine to get the march blocking and they don’t need to be engaged by Chaos Knights – ever.
- Get Papa Nurgle out there and let him clean up the MSU units. He has a charge of 12” which is much better than the rest of the force – let him clear the way!

[Warlord Ghazak Gazhkull]

Hello,

I just read all the battle reports and I must say it was worth the effort, really awesome battles and I love the army.

Greetz