JonathanC's Battle Report thread

[FeeZ]

Fantastic read Jon. It's eerie seeing your awesome Daemon Prince conversion simply because I had a very similar idea a couple of months ago to use the Deceiver as a base as well. The only major difference I had was that I wanted to use wings, but not wings like anything GW has done atm but wings more like the Angels from the Diablo series (although I have no idea how I could do this). Where did you get the hand holding the skull from?

Edit: run on sentences are very lame.

[JonathanC]

Your last comment has me baffled.....

Anyway, glad you enjoyed it! Haven't done a 40k report for a while and its a bit different from doing a WFB one where a single combat is more likely to last several turns and units get increasingly caught up in their own mini-battles. Just wish I'd taken one or two more photos of turn 3-4.

As for the Daemon Prince, he's not actually a conversion. He is an Unbound Daemonhost from GW's Inquisitor range that has had no real modifications done. This is why some of his proportions (like the mangled torso on his base and the skull he's holding) are a bit off compared to normal 40k models. Sadly, he's one of a number of Inquisitor models that you can't get any more as they cut the available range almost in half several years ago. A real disappointment in my opinion, not just for him but for all the other classic models and bitz service they stopped doing around the same time.

[DaemonReign]

Very well-presented report JonathanC! I throuroughly enjoyed Reading it and hope to treat you back in a few weeks with some more 'playtesting' in ridiculous scale!

As you are very well aware I am an eternal novice when it comes to 40k but your Writing actually made it possible for me to follow this battle none-the-less.

I also thought the Daemon Prince was a conversion from one of those Necron swirling spirit models whatever they are called. Too bad it's no longer being produced I would have liked to have one of those.

And man... If 8th Ed Warhammer is 'chaotic' that's nothing compared to playing 40k with Daemons evidently. I'd probably panic from not being able to define an actual 'frontline'. haha

Cheers!

[FeeZ]

oh, I made my edit when I realised that I didn't have any punctuation in my post lol, was very hard to read.

[JonathanC]

Ah, I thought it might have been something like that.

@DaemonReign - glad you enjoyed it. Since I know most of the reports posted in this section are WFB ones I tried to write it in such a way that those who don't play 40k could still follow it. I remember when I started reading White Dwarf in the early 90's a lot of the batreps were written as if they were a story and thats what made them enjoyable, since you could follow them even if you didn't play WFB or Epic (which I didn't back then) and still understand what was happening. Also, it makes it easier to fudge over certain details I can't remember, like how many Fire Warriors were killed by Horrors in a particular shooting phase cause I didn't take a photo of it!

As for the chaotic-ness of 40k Daemons, its one of the things that I like so much about them as they play completely differently to any other army in the game.

[JonathanC]

Its been a little while but thought it was about time I posted some sort of update. Not really a battle report this (and it doesn't actually involve any Daemons either), but a few weeks ago we hired out our club venue for a whole day to play one huge mega-battle - a refight of the Istvaan V massacre from the Horus Heresy!!

For those of you who don't know the original story, this is the battle where Horus reveals all the forces he secretly controls, not just the Sons of Horus, World Eater, Emperor's Children and Death Guard legions that rebelled with him, but also that the Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors, Word Bearers and Night Lords (which were sent to Istvaan V with the orders to defeat Horus) had secretly allied with him to. Together they all-but destroyed 3 legions still loyal to the Emperor that were the first to launch the attack, namely the Iron Hands, Raven Guard and Salamanders.

Since they were the first army I started collecting, I took command of the Salamanders (green armoured marines for those of you who don't know, nearest army in the first picture). I also bought along a large amount of World Eaters (over 80 Berserkers), a very small Death Guard contingent and a slightly bigger Night Lords force. Unfortunately the Night Lords and Death Guard players weren't able to make it, so that left those forces a little light. The Raven Guard and World Eaters (someone else bought along 5k of them to add to mine) were the largest armies, but fortunately the plan had been for those legions to deploy opposite each other anyway. Without many Emperor's Children either, the Sons of Horus (painted as Black Legion) ended up covering most of the defenders instead of just acting as back-up.

Deployment and scout moves










The Loyalists start the assault




The second wave of "Allies" arrives




The initial attacks by the Loyalists go well






More Traitor forces emerge from the fortress




The "Reinforcements" reveal their true allegiances, with the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion crushing the Raven Guard stragglers


While the rest of them target the Raven Guard and Salamanders rearguard




Iron Hands and Salamanders continue to push forwards


But the rear of the Loyalists starts to become bogged down by their former allies and outflanking World Eaters




Night Lord and Word Bearers on the attack


Increasing World Eater, Sons of Horus and Emperor's Children reinforcements cause the Loyalists advance to stall


But a lone Salamander Veteran is determined to make the Traitors pay for their disloyalty


More Traitors pour forwards into the meatgrinder


Bloodied but unbowed, the Iron Hands refuse to be swept aside by superior numbers


The Raven Guard are increasingly trapped, but the Salamanders show the Alpha Legion and World Eaters they aren't going down without a fight


The battle stopped soon after that, around turn 5 or 6. The plan was to play for an extra hour (which would have been enough time for another turn each) but the GM and some others couldn't stay. Still, did pretty well for a game that was about 25,000pts per side.

The different legions all scored points individually, with the Sons of Horus and Salamanders being joint winners! The Iron Hands (who lost badly in the original story) came second, with the Word Bearers also doing very well. Perhaps because they lacked a direct representative, the Death Guard and Night Lords finished bottom, with Mortarion declared dead and Night Haunter missing for the purposes of our campaign. Overall it was a lot of fun had by everyone and we'll probably be doing the Battle for Prospero (Space Wolves vs Thousand Sons) in a few months time.

Next time I'll make sure my report contains some Daemons....

[DaemonReign]

Awesome Jonathan..
Absolute carnage. It's all alive to my inner Eye! The chaos, the mayhem.. Don't worry about there not being any Daemons, this Was a great share regardless.

These mega-battles almost Always take much longer time than anticipated. I notice in the pics that your buddies are all standing up around the table, which I have realized is exhausting.. *haha* I've started to make it a point to always 'sit down' to save energy whenever there's no real reason for standing up.. I have my friends remind me to sit down as well, which could appear rather strange to an outsider I guess..

[Noisy Assassin]

Neat! Cool to see that freakin' many models on the table, although I bet the few unpainted minis in there may have gotten a bit confusing.

[JonathanC]

Thanks Noisy. Ideally we would have liked everything at least base coated but there wasn't enough time. Apart from a few marines and tanks all of my main army was painted green, but I simply didn't have the time to paint World Eaters, Night Lords and Death Guard too. We did have each legion assigned to specific deployment zones which helped a lot though, since it meant most people's forces weren't split up and spread across the board, and apart from me and one other person everyone just bought and used one army. You'll also notice that one of the armies (the Iron Warriors) had stickers on their bases to stop them getting mixed up.

@DaemonReign - I knew you'd appreciate a really huge battle! This was probably the equivalent of 30k a side in fantasy terms. A lot of the pictures where you see people standing were in the first 2-3 turns, most of us took every opportunity to sit down after that!

[JonathanC]

Last weekend a friend and I went to the Warhammer Doubles tournament at Warhammer World. This would be 5 games over 2 days, with a 1,000pts per player using the usual ally rules to see how well they worked together. Each game would be played using the standard scenarios (rolled for by the event's team), with a different one being used for each game. I took my Daemons of course whilst my doubles partner - Dave - took Warriors of Chaos. For reasons mostly related to Dave's army we were competing under the name "Team Stupid".

My army featured:
Herald of Tzeentch - Master of Sorcery (Light), Spellbreaker
40 Bloodletters - Full Command, Icon of Endless War
3 Screamers
Fiend
Fiend
Bloodcrusher

And it looked a bit like this:

That is 40 OOP axe-wielding metal Bloodletters you can see! In fact, the entire army was metal apart from the tail of one of the Screamers (take that metal haterz!!!!!1!!! ).

Dave's Warriors of Chaos army looked like this:
The Troll King Throgg
5 Chaos Trolls
6 Chaos Trolls
5 Marauder Horsemen - light armour, javelins, Standard bearer, musician
Chaos Warshrine
Scyla Afingrimm



The lighting meant there was a lot of shadows, but this really was a fantastically painted army as I hope you can get some indication of from the photos. It attracted a lot of attention from passing gamers. The old Troll model riding another Troll is actually Throgg himself (he's getting old and needs help getting around was Dave's explanation).

Another part of the tournament rules was that each team could bring a terrain piece with them to be placed 12" away from the enemy's deplyment zone before setting up. It could be anything you wanted, including specific mysterious terrain pieces. We opted for an Idol of Gork (or possibly Mork) to help the Trolls make it into combat.

There were also special mission cards, which would get to pick 3 each of before each game and our opponents would pick one at random for us to try and complete. They had no effect on the result of the game itself, but gave bonus tournament points towards your final score. All the special missions had 2 levels of difficulty you could potentially complete them to, Lord and Hero.

GAME 1
I meant to take photos of the set-ups at the start of each game and pictures at the end, but with time limited and 2 opponents to talk to I forgot it for most of the games. Anyway, our first opponents were a Dark Elf/Bretonnian combo competing under the name "I'm not your buddy, Guy". I did get photos of their armies after the game.

The Dark Elves consisted of: Dreadlord on dark pegasus with 1+ save, Pendant (of course) and cheap magic weapon, BSB on Cold One with Ring of Hotek, 5 Dark Riders & 6 Dark Riders, both with repeater crossbows, spears and standards, 9 Cold One Knights with full command and ASF banner.

The Bretonnian army included a Lord with Heroic Killing Blow virtue, BSB, Hero on pegasus with cheap magic weapon, Charmed shield and luckstone, 2 units of 8 Knights of the Realm with full command (one with Banner of Eternal Flame) and 10 Archers (their only infantry). Their terrain piece was a Wyrding Well.

The first scenario rolled up was Watchtower, which gave us a distinct advantage since they had hardly any infantry. We started in control of the tower (although we had no units to place inside it) and got the first turn because the Bretonnians prayed to the Lady.

Turn 1
We advanced the Bloodletters (ranked deep) to just within 5" of the watchtower, with Throgg and the 5 Trolls next to them. I ran my Fiends and Crusher forwards in the hope of blocking the path of the Knights and Dreadlord to the Bloodletters so they could get in the tower unobstructed next turn. The Horsemen and Screamers moved to cover the Dark Riders and Cold One Knights on one flank, whilst the Trolls ambled fowards next to Scyla on the other, covering the bulk of the Brets and other Dark Riders. My HoT stayed in a building in our deployment zone as I was worried about the shooting. I got a lot of magic dice but Banishment bounced off the Dreadlord, whilst I got Light of Battle off on Throgg's unit and Pha's Protection on the Bloodcrusher (to make it harder for the Dreadlord to just run right through him).

In their turn the Dreadlord flew over the units in their way and charged the Bloodletters directly, therefore pinning them in place. The Bretonnian Lord charged out of his unit at Scyla, and the other Knights charged the Fiend in front of them. The Dark Riders danced around the Marauders and killed one, whilst the others targeted my HoT but did nothing. In combat my Bloodletter champ had to accept the challenge from the Dreadlord due to the presence of the Warshrine and was killed. I still won by 2 but the Elf held. The Knights and Fiend did 2 wounds to each other, the Fiend dying to instability but stopping the Knights from overrunning. Finally, the Bret Lord took down Scyla with a Heroic Killing Blow (boo!!).

Turn 2
With the Bloodletters pinned in place, we moved Throgg and his unit into the watchtower instead. The other Trolls went stupid and stumbled 4" forwards, leaving them in danger of being charged by the Knights. The other Knights were charged by the remaining Fiend and Bloodcrusher. The Screamers slashed the Dark Riders and killed one and another was killed by the Marauder Horsemen. Magic was shocking as I failed to reach the casting total for Banishment against the Dark Riders attacking my HoT in spite of throwing 3 dice at it, leaving me unable to use my remaining 4 dice. In combat the Dreadlord killed several Bloodletters. I got a killing blow through his Pendant (yay!), but being monstrous cav he was immune (boo!). In spite of being steadfast I lost 2 more Bloodletters. The Fiend and Crusher beat the Knights, killing 3, but they were still steadfast and didn't run (being in lance formation meant they only needed 3 models for a rank).

In their turn the Cold Ones flank charged the Bloodletters whilst the Bret Knights and BSB charged the Trolls. The Dark Riders that I'd failed to cast Banishment on charged my HoT in the building. They failed their fear test but still did 2 wounds and I failed both saves - very disappointing. The Bret Knights had the flaming banner so easily cut down one Troll, the others fleeing and bouncing through other units and buildings to end up on the table edge. The Knights reformed to face watchtower. The other Dark riders targeted the Marauders, killing 2. The Cold Ones hammered the Bloodletters, although took a couple of casualties in return, and I failed to scratch the Dreadlord. I rolled another 10 for the break test and lost a couple more. The Fiend, Crusher and Knights failed to damage each other and I lost on standard, the Crusher taking a wound to instability.

Turn 3
With one flank gone, we moved the Warshrine to block a direct charge to the watchtower from the Bret Lord. The Screamers performed a long range charge on the rear of the Cold One Knights, whilst the Marauders continued to dance around the Dark Riders. Throgg and his unit obviously stayed put. In combat the Screamers dragged down a Cold One for the loss of one wound, whilst a couple more were killed by Bloodletters. I still lost and a Screamer died from instability. The Bloodletters reformed to face the Cold Ones. In the other combat I killed 2 Knights for no loss but the Champion held. Their response was to charge the Bret Pegasus Hero (which hadn't done much up till now) into the rear of the Fiend, whilst the Bret Lord rejoined the unit with flaming banner. Both Dark Rider units moved towards our deployment zone, firing at the Marauders and Warshine but achieving nothing. In the ongoing grind the Screamers were wiped out but I killed 3 Cold One Knights, including the standard. The Dark Elves lost but held. The Pegasus Hero did 2 wounds to the Fiend, and I did 1 back to him, whilst the Crusher killed the last Knight. I still lost and the Crusher died to instability.

Turn 4
With only the Warshrine free (and not much we could do with it) we went straight into combat. The Fiend did another wound to the Bret hero but got killed, whilst the Bloodletters finished off the Dark Elf BSB and Cold One champion, reforming to face the Dreadlord again who held (I only had about 10 left by this point). The Bret Hero then charged the Warshrine in the flank (we thought he couldn't see it past the watchtower but turned out he could), but was killed by it, whilst the remaing Knights charged the Watchtower. Throgg and the Bret Lord fought out a challenge, but even with re-rolls to wound from the flaming attacks he couldn't land a wounding hit on Throgg, who failed to do any damage in return with his vomit. Two Trolls and a Knight were killed, but Throgg and his unit held. The Dreadlord continued to grind down the Bloodletters and in spite of being steadfast I lost 2 more. We rolled for the game to end but it continued.

Turn 5
In the last 2 turns the Bloodletters were finally wiped out by the Dreadlord, the Marauder Horsemen and Dark Riders continued to dance around and shoot at each other, with 2 elves and 1 human left at the end, whilst most important of all the Bret Knights charged in again, killing a Troll but crucially the Lord failed to land a wounding hit on Throgg again, much less a Heroic Killing Blow, and the Trolls held (thanks to Throgg's ability to re-roll failed break tests). The time limit for the game was up and although we only had Throgg, 2 Trolls and 1 Marauder left we had won the game. They completed one of their special missions (getting units in our deployment zone) but we failed to acheive ours as Throgg was tied up in the watchtower busy winning the game for us.
-------------------------------------------

It was an OK game but their army made it a bit frustrating at times since 2 magic items basically took two of our best combat units out of the game quite easily, whilst losing the HoT so easily before he really acheived anything was very annoying. I could have reformed the Bloodletters into a conga line turn 1 and then easily got into the Watchtower straight away (providing I passed my test on Ld8) but I thought that was too cheesy. I also didn't realise I was as close to the Dreadlord as I was (he needed a 9 to make it in, not too difficult when you have swiftstride).

Game 2, coming soon.

[JonathanC]

GAME 2
We had started on table 5, but without picking up any bonus points from the last game we dropped to table 27. Our opponents were competing under the odd name of "Tree, brocolli, boat and sword" and were a Wood Elf/Goblin combo, with a Haunted Mansion as their terrain piece. Their army lists were something like this:

Wood Elves
Wardancer Lord
Branchwraith with lvl1 upgrade and +1 dispel dice sprite.
2 x 12 Dryads
3 Treekin
9 Wardancers

Goblins
Night Goblin Warboss
Lvl 4 Night Goblin Great Shaman with dispel scroll
Night Goblin Big Boss BSB
50 Night Gobilns with spears, Full command and 3 Fanatics
2 x 5 Goblin Wolf Riders with short bows
2 Mangler Squigs
Doom diver

The scenario was Battleline (which suited us nicely) and one of our special missions drawn was an Insane Heroism one. These had to be declared before the game and you also had to decide whether to attempt Lord or Hero level in advance. This one gave you bonus points if your characters survived, but D3 or D6 of them (depending on level) had to start outside of units and couldn't join any units during the game! With only 2 characters in our army (one of which couldn't join most units anyway) we went for the Lord level, resulting in both of our characters being forced to spend all game outside of units. If we completed it though, we would get 3 bouns points, a significant bonus when you consider it was 10pts for a win and 5 for a draw. For my mission I had to get at least one unit of 5 models into the enemy deployment zone, which would have to be the Bloodletters as they were the only unit large enough in my army (some missions were for one force, others were for the combined army).

Deployment (post vanguard moves) looked like this:



The black tower on the slope was the Haunted Mansion.



Turn 1
The Goblins and Wood Elves got the first turn and moved their Wolf riders into awkward position blocking our army, whilst the Manglers advanced as quickly as possible. The Wardancers moved out of the building they were in into the walled area in front, whilst the rest of the army advanced straight forwards in a line, the central Dryad unit reforming into one rank. In the magic phase the Branchwraith cast Tree Singing to move one of the forests into the way of the Bloodletters, but all other spells were stopped. The Wolf Ridres acheived little in the shooting phase, just a wound on Scyla, but the Doom Diver landed 5 hits on my HoT. Fortunately I managed to Look out Sir! most of them onto the Bloodletters and rolled some good saves, just taking one wound on the HoT and one on the Bloodletters.

In our first turn the purple Trolls went stupid and stumbled forwards, whilst the brown Trolls passed their test. The Bloodletters charged the nearby Wolf Rider who held, whilst Scyla moved into the other unit. The Bloodcrusher moved around the back of the Wolf Riders, ready to charge in if things went wrong. The Screamers advanced up the left flank, hoping to reach the Doom Diver next turn. The Fiend to the right of the Bloodletters advanced up the flank, staying out of charge arc of the Wardancers, whilst the other sat on the nearest Mangler to kill it. The Marauder Horsemen did the same with the Mangler on the other side. Naturally both units were killed, but it was worth it to take out the Manglers. In the magic phase I managed to cast Light of Battle on the brown Trolls with the few power dice I had. One unit of Wolf Riders were ripped apart by the Bloodletters, who reformed to avoid an awkward overrun (this also allowed me to get in range of the Idol of Gork). Scyla ripped 4 Wolf Riders apart and let the last one go since he bled through the building and was unlikely to rally. He reformed to face the Dryads.

Turn 2
Turn 2 began with the Treekin and Dryads declaring a charge against the brown Trolls, both units making it in. The other Dryad unit charged Scyla. The lone Wolf Rider continued to flee, whilst the Wardancers continued to work their way around the flank. In the magic phase the Shaman cast a boosted Curse of the Bad Moon on irresistable force, sending it into the Bloodletters. He chose Toughness as the test and the vortex finished in the middle of the unit, killing about 6. The miscast result just killed a couple of goblins and cost them some power dice. The last spell attempt was dispelled. The Doom Diver aimed at the HoT again but missed this time. In combat the Wood Elves beat the Trolls easily for little damage in return, but the Trolls automatically passed their break test as they were still under the effects of Light of Battle. The other Dryads killed Scyla but didn't overrun very far, leaving them vulnerable to a counterattack.

In our turn the purple Trolls passed their stupidity test this time and flank charged the Dryads that had killed Scyla, with the Bloodcrusher joining in on the other flank. The Screamers attempted to charge the Doom Diver, but it was a high roll needed and they failed, just going 3". Throgg charged the Dryads in combat with the Trolls from last turn. Finally, aided by the Idol of Gork, the Bloodletters charged the Wardancers. The remaining Fiend advanced to within 8" of the Night Goblins, triggering the Fanatics, but none of them made contact with any units (the Fiend itself was safe behind a wall). In the magic phase I managed to get Speed of Light off on the Trolls in combat with the Treekin, and Pha's Protection on the Bloodletters. In combat the Dryads fighting the Crusher and Trolls were trounced and run down by the Khornate Daemon, whilst the Trolls reformed. Throgg and the other Trolls failed to incflict much damage on the forest spirits, who didn't do much either. The Treekin held whilst the Dryads fled and were run down by Throgg, who overran into the Night Goblin horde. The Wardancers and Lord opted for the 4+ ward save dance, and struck first against the Bloodletters. Pha's Protection limited how much damage they could cause, and in spite of their agility 6 fell to the return attacks. The elves fled and were run down.

Turn 3
Turn 3 started with the fanatics whirling around, going close but not hitting anything. Magic was limited with half the dice going to the Wood Elves (who no longer had a wizard) so it was all dispelled. The Doom Diver aimed at the HoT again but fortunately missed. In combat Throgg had to issue a challenge which was accepted by the Night Goblin Boss. He was easily dispatched but Throgg didn't get much overkill. He lost combat quite badly and was run down. The brown Trolls failed to make much impact on the Treekin and they were also driven off, but at least they escaped. In our turn the two remaining brown Trolls rallied and the purple Trolls charged the Treekin (they were able to use the Ld of my HoT fortunately). The Screamers finally made it into the Doom Diver. I was tempted to turn the Bloodletters back towards the centre, but was worried they would just get ground down by the Night Goblin horde if things went wrong (I had less than 30 by now, compared to 50 of them still), so they headed towards the enemy deployment zone so we could acheive our special mission. The Fiend ran along the back lines to try and march-block the Night goblins. I forgot to move the Crusher as it was in the middle of the dead pile. In the magic phase the only spell I got off was Net of Amyntok on the Night Goblins. The Treekin and Trolls fought each other to a standstill, whilst the Screamers killed the Doom Diver and reformed to face the Treekin.

Turn 4
The Night Goblins charged the brown Trolls (Net of Amyntok not bothering them at all) whilst the Fanatics continued to whirl around aimlessly and the last Wolf Rider finally fled the table. The Shaman attempted to cast Gift of the Spider God on his unit but I dispelled it. The Trolls were easily beaten by the massed ranks of the Night Goblins, who were unable to pursue as the Idol of Gork was right in front of them, and the Treekin and purple Trolls fought out another draw. I charged the Screamers into the rear of the Treekin, whilst the brown Trolls fled the table as they were out of range of the HoT. The Bloodcrusher remembered to move this time, positioning itself in the Treekin's flank, whilst the rest of the army made sure it was in the Night Goblins side or rear and the HoT backed off a bit more. The Bloodletters continued their advance into the enemy deployment zone. Magic saw me blast a couple of gobbos with Shem's burning Gaze before casting Speed of Light on the purple Trolls. Combat saw a Treekin finally felled but they did some damage to the Screamers and passed their break test.

Turn 5
This was going to be last turn as we were running out of time. The Night Goblins reformed to face my HoT and moved towards him, whilst one of the Fanatics finally collapsed from exhaustion. In the magic phase the Shaman threw all his dice at a boosted Vindictive Glare against my HoT, but fortunately for me his bonus mushroom dice came up a 1 and the spell failed. In combat the Treekin lost again and this time broke, just escaping the pursuing Trolls and Screamers. Our Wood Elf opponent just took the Treekin off as it was obvoius they'd get run down next turn. In our last turn we considered throwing the Warshrine, Fiend and Bloodcrusher into combat with the Night Goblins, but decided it wasn't worth the risk so with that the game ended.
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Thats how it ended with respect to what was left, although I may be remembering some of it a bit wrong (not sure how long those Treekin were engaged for, but it was a while). Was a pretty good game but there were a few nigly arguments about some stuff which spoiled things a bit. In the end we won by about 700pts. The HoT staying alive made a big diference to us as it meant we acheived our Insane Heroism! special mission and got 4 bonus points in total, which made up a lot for the previous game. With 2 wins out 2 (and one of our most difficult special missions and scenarios out of the way), things were going well.

Next up, Game 3.

[JonathanC]

GAME 3
We were now up to table 3 and found ourselves facing a dual Skaven army called "Zap & Sneak". As the name implied, one force was Clan Skyre themed and the other was Clan Eshin. The scenario rolled was Meeting Engagement. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at all of this game.

Their armies looked a bit like this:
Skyre Warlord - 2+ save, great weapon
Cheiftan BSB
Level 1 Warlock Engineer - dispel scroll
50 Clanrats - full command plus attached Plague wind mortar
50 Slaves
Warp Lightning Cannon
Doomwheel
Eshin Warlord
Cheiftan BSB
50 Clanrats - Full command plus Assasin with Other Trickster's Shard hiding in unit
20 Night Runners - tunnellers, Warp Grinder
2 x 8 Gutter Runners - slings, poisoned attacks

Their terrain piece was a Wyrding Well.

We won the roll for table side and I made sure we had the tower on our side so they wouldn't be able to hide in it, and the only terrain we had to negotiate was a forest in the centre. I placed the Idol of Gork as close to the centre as I could, whilst they placed their well at the back of their deployment zone near the far corner from us. They rolled for all their units and they all turned up apart from both the 50-strong Clanrat units (which was a problem for the Eshin player as he had no other units to put his characters in). All the Daemon units turned up, but the purple Trolls were delayed (which was a problem for us as we wanted Throgg to go in that unit as it offered more protection from the cannon and Doomwheel).

We set up our army as far forwards as possible, but kept Throgg within 12" of the table edge for when the other Trolls arrived. A Fiend was on his right near the corner, with Bloodletters, a Fiend, Scyla, Bloodcrusher, Marauder Horsemen and Screamers going out in that order to Throgg's left. The HoT and Warshrine were deployed behind. The Skaven deployed the Slaves with Skyre characters, Warp Lightning Cannon and Doomwheel near the well, the Eshin Warlord and BSB in the opposite corner just out of sight of the Screamers, and the 2 Gutter Runner units scouting into our back corner near the tower. We vanguarded the Horsemen backwards towards the Gutter Runners to keep them occupied, and our opponents failed to steal the first turn.

Turn 1
The game started with Throgg and his Trolls failing their stupidity test and advancing 6" forwards. With nothing else to go for, Scyla turned round and headed for the Gutter Runners, whilst the Screamers flew back and slashed the sneaky rats, killing one. The other Trolls turned up behind Throgg and advanced straight forwards, whilst the Bloodletters also advanced forwards keeping their back edge within 6" of the Idol. The Fiend near Throgg advanced up the right board edge, keeping its distance from the Doomwheel. The other Fiend and Crusher moved into the no-mans land of the centre to try and cover wherever the Clanrats might turn up. In the magic phase I rolled a double 1 but managed to cast Light of Battle on Throggs unit so they wouldn't go stupid again next turn. The Horsemen threw javelins at the Gutter Runners but all missed.

The Skaven turn started by testing to see if the alliance held, which it did. The Eshin Clanrats turned up near their characters, who promptly joined their unit, whilst the Skyre Clanrats turned up next to the Wyrding Well, the characters leaving the Slaves to join them. The Doomwheel rolled really high for its random move and charged straight into my Fiend on the table side. At the end of the movement phase the Skyre Clarats and Slaves both drank from the well, both units becoming unbreakable and stupid (urghhhh). Magic was non-existant and in the shooting phase the Gutter Runners caused a wound on Scyla and the Screamers with their poisoned slings. The Doomwheel killed the Fiend it had run into with warp lightning, and also killed a Troll from Throgg's unit. Finally the Warp Lightning Cannon fired a S8 blast right into the middle of Throgg's unit. The Trolls all passed their regen saves but Throgg failed. Fortunately for us the blast only caused 2 wounds, leaving Throgg badly wounded but alive. Because they regenerated 2 wounds the Trolls gained +1 Ld.

Turn 2
In our turn 2 the Trolls passed their stupidity tests. Throgg's unit attempted to charge the Doomwheel but failed, and Scyla fell short of the Gutter Runners. The Screamers made it into the other unit of Gutter Runners, avoiding damage from the forest they were hiding in. The Bloodcrusher moved away from the Eshin clanrats and the remaining Fiend moved onto the Skaven board edge between the 2 Clanrat units but out of sight of both, facing the newly arrived Poison Wind Mortar. Finally the Bloodletters advanced up the centre flanked by the purple Trolls, the HoT and Warshrine behind them. The Bloodletters advanced partly into the forest, which turned out to be a fungus forest therefore making them stupid (our team name increasingly appropriate it seemed). In the magic phase I got a whole 3 dice this time and just failed an attempt at casting a boosted Pha's Protection. In the shooting phase the Warshrine granted a near-useless benefit to Throgg's unit, whilst the Horsemen killed a Gutter Runner. The Gutter Runners fighting the Screamers rolled about six poisoned hits, but I made most my saves and only lost one. My return attacks were terrible though and I only killed one, so the combat was a draw. By this point I was pretty down about how things were going as our opponents were rolling so well and was almost ready to give up, something that almost never happens to me.

In a drastic change from last turn, the two Skaven armies went from trusted to desparate allies. The Doomwheel pivoted to move past Throgg's unit, keeping itself out of sight of him. The Skyre Clanrats advanced slightly so that the Mortar could hide behind their unit. The Slaves moved up into the Bloodletters face to stop them getting to the Clanrats. The Eshin Clanrats advanced towards the Bloodcrusher and our main flank. The Gutter Runners out of combat failed their march test and couldn't get away from the Horsemen and Scyla. In the magic phase they rolled low, but this suited them as they only had Warp Lightning to cast and I only had two dice to stop it. Naturally it went off but some good saves kept the Bloodcrusher alive. The Crusher was also targeted by the Poison Wind Mortar, but it misfired and scattered way off target. The Doomwheel killed another Troll with its lightning, but the Warp Lightning cannon promptly misfired and blew up, which cheered me up a bit. Finally, the Gutter Runners failed to take out Scyla. In combat another shed-load of poisoned attacks from the other Gutter Runners meant the Screamers quickly disappeared.

Turn 3
We started turn 3 by passing all our stupidity tests and then declaring charges with everything but the HoT and Throgg. The Marauder Horsemen charged the Gutter Runners in the rear, the Bloodletters charged the Slaves in the front with the purple Trolls in the side. The Warshrine charged the Doomwheel to hopefully tie it up for a while. The Fiend wanted to charge the Poison wind Mortar, but the gap between the Clanrats and the board edge was too small so it charged the Clanrats in the flank instead as his Warlock Engineer was on that corner (and one of our special missions was to kill characters). The Bloodcrusher attempted a long-range charge into the front of the same unit, but fell well short and only went 2", ending up in the forest. Scyla then went into the front of the Gutter Runners fighting the Horsemen. Throgg passed his march test and advanced 12" straight towards the Wyrding Well. In the magic phase I got 5 dice and decided to not mess around and threw all of them into Briona's Timewarp on the Bloodletters, reasoning if I didn't do something to help them they would be stuck fighting the now-unbreakable Slaves for most of the game. It went off with Irresistable Force, the miscast causing me to lose all my magic levels. It was annoying, but under the circumstances I considered that an acceptable trade. The Warshrine then used the Eye of the Gods to grant the Purple Trolls +1 attack, exactly what we needed. In combat the Bloodletters tore through the Slaves, killing 20 in spite of only 18 getting in combat. Between their normal attacks and stomps the Trolls weren't far behind. The slaves lost horrendously but weren't going anywhere. The Fiend killed the Warlock Engineer but took a couple of wounds in reply. I rolled a 3 for my break test and it held though, tying up the unit for a turn at least. The Doomwheel did a wound to the Warshrine and the combat ended a draw. In the other combat the Gutter Runners were beaten and run down by Scyla and the Horsemen.

The Skaven started their turn by charging the Bloodcrusher with the Eshin Clanrats. The Night Runners finally arrived from their tunnel, scattering far from any meaningful combats. The Gutter Runners that had killed the Screamers turned their attention to Scyla, killing the wounded spawn. The Warshrine was blasted with lightning from the Doomwheel but it failed to wound. In combat the Assasin popped up to attack the Crusher. Between armour and ward I passed all my saves, but then the Other Trickster's Shard was revealed and I failed my re-roll. Mysteriously the Clanrats turned away from the Bloodletters with their reform towards the Marauder Horsemen. The Bloodletters tore the remaining Slaves apart before the Trolls could attack, both units reforming to face the Skyre Clanrats. The Fiend killed another 2 Clanrats but still lost badly and died from instability. In spite of this I was feeling a lot happier about how the game was going now.

Turn 4
Throgg started our turn 4 by failing his stupidity test, ambling towards the well. The other Trolls passed though and successfully charged the Clanrats, along with the Bloodletters. Unable to cast magic, the HoT headed towards the well too and away from the Doomwheel. Throgg and his unit drank from the well, becoming stupid and unbreakable. The Marauder Horsemen threw more javelins at the Gutter Runners, killing one. In combat the Bloodletters and Trolls mashed the Clanrats and killed their BSB, but took some casulaties in return. The Trolls regenerated gaining a 6+ scaly skin save. The Warshrine took another wound from the Doomwheel but passed its break test. In the Skaven turn the Eshin Clanrats and Night Runners continued to head towards our deployment zone, whilst the Gutter Runners faced off against the Marauder Horsemen, killing one. The Doomwheel hit the Warshrine with 3 S8 shots, but they all either failed to wound or were stopped by its ward save. Combat betwen the 2 was a draw. The Bloodletters and Trolls continued to inflict far more casulaties than they received, but the unbreakable Clanrats weren't going anywhere. Two of the Trolls had tried to kill the Warlord but his armour was too good. The Trolls regenerated 2 wounds again, this time getting the benefit of +1 Strength.

Turn 5
We could have charged the Horsemen into the Gutter Runners this turn, but I advised Dave it was unlikely to work and safer to dance around them for another turn at least. The HoT moved up to the well and drank, also becoming stupid and unbreakable. In the shooting phase the Horsemen did nothing to the Gutter Runners. With their boosted strength the Trolls were easily able to finish off the Warlord, and by the end of the combat there were only 2 Clanrats left. The Warshrine's attacks again bounced off the Doomwheel (Dave hadn't even rolled a single 6 to wound in 25 attacks) and it again took a wound from the Skaven machine, but passed its break test. In the Skaven turn the Night Runners advanced towards the Horsemen and between them and the Gutter Runners they finished off the Marauder Horsemen at last with their shooting. The Doomwheel's lightning proved harmless to the Warshrine again, but its luck finally ran out in the combat phase as it was killed (even though it finally got a wound through on the 'Wheel). Lastly, the 2 remaining Clanrats were wiped out by the Bloodletters.
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We ran out of time there with 5 turns gone, but since their army was on our side of the table and ours was on their side I can't see how anything could have changed in the last turn. Counting up the VP's it turned out we had won by about 400pts. We also got 2 points from our special missions (captured one table quarter and killed at least one hero) whilst they acheived at least one of theirs (capture table quarters, which explained what the Eshin Clanrats were up to). I can't remember what their other one was. I found most of the first 2 turns pretty unenjoyable, but that was mainly down to some outrageous dice on their part rather than our opponents fault as such. It got a bit better when the actual fighting started.

Things were going well, suspiciously well. End of day 1 and we had 3 wins out of 3 and 6 bonus points. I was starting to get the crazy idea we may have an outside chance of winning this, or more likely get in the top 3.

Later that day they put the best army lists in a display case for us to look at. At these tournaments there is a bonus award for the best or most imaginatively presented army list, and as you can see from the photos below there were some pretty impressive ones for the judges to choose from.





And the winner was the one on the left in the last photo, which was probably just a bit better presented than the Daemon head. I did like the screaming book as well.

I'll be back tomorrow hopefully to let you know how we got on day 2.

[Virgill]

Great reports, fun to read but more pics would be appreciated

Also after the tournament, do you think that the HoT was a better choice than going for a HoK ?

[JonathanC]

Thanks Virgill. I really wanted to take more pics (it would have made the write-ups easier) but with just 2.5 hrs per game and twice as many people involved in every rules dispute/tactics discussion it was easy to forget in the rush to get the game to a meaningful conclusion. I really need to find an easy way of drawing simple maps on my computer to act as a substitute.

As for the HoT vs HoK debate, I was wondering a bit after the first game but as you'll see from the next battle especially I don't think we'd have done as well without him. I also can't think of any situations where the Bloodletters died and having an HoK would have made much of a difference to the result, and if they managed without him then he obviously wasn't needed.
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GAME 4
We were now up to the dizzying heights of table 4, meaning we were currently in the top 8 overall. Our opponents were the team "What, Animosity Again?" who unsurprisingly were both using Orcs & Goblins. Their army list looked like this:

Savage Orc Warboss - extra choppa
Savage Orc Big Boss - BSB, extra choppa, Banner of Eternal Flame
Savage Orc Shaman (Lvl 1) - Lucky Shrunken Head
30 Savage Orc Big 'Uns - Full command, extra choppas
20 Orc Big 'Uns - Full command, shields
4 Mangler Squigs
4 Pump Wagons with various upgrades
Goblin Great shaman - Lvl 4, dispel scroll
20 Night Goblins - Full command, bows
20 Night Goblins - Full command, 3 Fanatics
Spear Chukka

Their terrain piece was also an Idol of Gork (or possibly Mork).

The scenario rolled by the events team was Dawn Attack and we won the roll for deployment. Most of our units ended up in the middle (including all the Trolls which was the most important thing). Our set up looked like this (after a couple of opening moves):


Apart from not getting the Manglers a bit more central I think they got most their army roughly where they wanted it to be, it looked like this:


TURN 1
They failed to snatch the first turn so we started the game by failing the Stupidity test for Throgg's Trolls. Scyla advanced towards the Pump Wagons as seen in the photo, and the Bloodcrusher moved around him to hug that board side and try and keep out of easy charge range from the Pump Wagons. The Screamers went up the other flank hugging the table side again and tempting the Pump Wagon on that flank to charge them. The Fiend next to the Trolls advanced to just in front of the forest near the enemy Idol. The Marauder Horsemen and other Fiend emerged from the shadow of the tall tower but didn't advance too far as they didn't want to be caught by the Manglers. The purple Trolls advanced to within range of the enemy Idol. I realised our Idol was going to be in the way of Bloodletters for getting to the Savage Orcs, so they mostly just wheeled to try and get past it into the centre. In the magic phase Banishment against the nearest Mangler was dispelled, but I got Light of Battle off on Throgg's unit.

In the Orc & Goblin turn both the Savage Orcs and the Night Goblins behind them failed their animosity tests. The Orcs attempted a charge on the Trolls but fell way short, whilst the Night Goblins were unable to charge so squabbled. One Pump Wagon fell short of the Bloodcrusher, but the one near the Screamers made a long-range charge into the flank of the Fiend. In order to reach it had to go through the forest, and took 2 wounds from the dangerous terrain. The other 2 advanced a moderate distance forwards, along with the 3 Manglers on our right flank. The remaining Mangler moved past the building ending up between the Trolls and Savage Orcs. The other units just advanced a bit to follow the Manglers and Wagons. In the magic phase only the Savage Orc Shaman was able to cast since the other was in a squabbling unit, and tried Foot of Gork against the Bloodletters. They rolled quite high so I used my Spellbreaker to stop it - I didn't want to lose about 10 Bloodletters straight away. In the shooting phase the Spear Chukka missed. The Pump Wagon did 2 wounds to the Fiend with its impact hits, but was killed by the Fiend in return.

TURN 2
We started our turn by declaring charges with the purple Trolls against the Savage Orcs (I was rather dubious of this, but thought we may be able to soften them up for later and at least it created more space in the centre) and the Bloodcrusher against the further away of the 2 Pump Wagons it was facing. Both made it in, although the Trolls needed the help of the Idol. Scyla went for the Pump Wagon the Crusher ignored but fell a few inches short. The Trolls were able to wheel past the Mangler and still maximise, so I sent the Fiend that had survived the Pump Wagon charge to sit on it, killing both. The Marauder Horsemen advanced towards another Mangler, triggering the Fanatics. They all missed though and the Horsemen were able to reform and hit the Mangler while the other Fiends hit the Mangler closest to the Bloodletters. All 4 units were destroyed. Throgg moved up ready to charge the Savage Orcs should the other Trolls hold, and the Bloodletters continued to make their way past the Idol. The Warshrine and HoT manouvered to use the Bloodletters as a barrier. Finaly the Screamers moved up close to the building on the hill, ready to fly over the Night goblin archers next turn. In the magic phase I got 12 dice. Banishment against the remaining Mangler was dispelled, before I cast Light of Battle on Throgg's unit with irresistable force (in spite of just using 3 dice). The miscast result caused me to lose 1 magic level and that spell, and left me with 6 dice my HoT was unable to use when I was really hoping to cast Speed of Light/Pha's Protection on the purple Trolls (drat!). In the shooting phase the Warshrine attempted to give a benefit to Throgg's unit but it wasn't anything useful. In combat the Bloodcrusher easily destroyed the Pump Wagon (although took a wound in the process) and overran to get away from the Fanatics and Mangler. The Trolls discovered the Savage Orcs had flaming attacks and 5 of them were torn apart. The last one attacked the Boss in an attempt to get him out of the way for later, but he passed his ward save thanks to the Lucky Shrunken Head. The last Troll failed his test and ran, escaping the pursuing Orcs.

The Orcs & Goblins passed their animosity tests and charged the fleeing Troll with the Savage Orcs. It had to flee and they passed their test to redirect into Throgg's unit. Their wheel bought them into contact with the fleeing Troll and he was removed from play (we spent a lot of time arguing this - I argued that they couldn't just clip him like that since they'd already redirected, while they argued it was a multi-charge and they could. In the end I let it go since it was actually to our immediate advantage that the Troll was out of the way since he was blocking the path of the Bloodletters). The Pump Wagon nearest Syla ran into him, while the other went forwards to get around the back of the Bloodletters. The Orc Big 'Unz advanced into the forest next to our Idol to threaten the Bloodletters flank (which turned out to be an Abyssal Wood) while the Night Goblin Archers and Great Shaman moved into the building. The last Mangler went for Scyla but missed, while the Fanatics travelled a lot but didn't connect with anything. In the magic phase Curse of da Bad Moon was cast against the Screamers, which wounded one, and in spite of throwing all my dice at it I failed to dispel Itchy Nuisance on the Bloodletters, which reduced their Move and Initiative down to 1 each. The Spear chukka missed the Bloodcrusher, and the Night goblin archers killed the wounded Screamer. Scyla was wounded by the Pump Wagon, but crushed it with his attacks in return. Like last turn the Trolls were annihilated by the Savage Orcs, but Throgg was safe because he was in a challenge with the Boss, whom he killed (but took a wound in the process). Thanks to Light of Battle he automatically passed his break test, which took our opponents by surprise a bit. Seeing the Bloodletters were about to charge them, they reformed to be 5 ranks deep and put their BSB on the other side of the unit so he couldn't be attacked.

TURN 3
The Bloodletters charged the Savage Orcs in the flank, the Idol stopping them from fully maximising so only half were in. The Screamers charged the Night Goblins in the building. The Bloodcrusher advanced towards the Spear chukka, while Scyla tried to get away from the Mangler. The Warshrine positioned itself to stop the Orc Big 'Unz getting to the Bloodletter's rear, while the HoT retreated from the last Pump Wagon. The winds of magic granted me 5 dice and rather than take any chances I used them all for Briona's Timewarp on the Bloodletters. It went off with irresistable force and the HoT took a wound. The Warshrine then gifted the Bloodletters with +1 Strength. In combat the Screamers killed 2 gobbos for no loss but they passed their break test. Throgg issued another challenge which was accepted by the Warboss, who cut Throgg down before he could fight back (boo!). The Bloodletters tore chunks out of the Orcs however, even though they took a few casualties in return. The Daemons won by 4 but thanks to the BSB they passed their break test and reformed into a horde again, facing the Bloodletters.

The Orc Big' Unz failed their animosity check and charged the Warshrine. The last Mangler caught up with Scyla and devoured him. The last Pump Wagon tried to get the HoT but fell well short. The fanatics continued to whirl around, failing to connect. In the magic phase the Screamers took a wound from Vindictive Glare, and Itchy Nuisance was cast on the Bloodletters with irresistable force, reducing their Initiative by 2. The miscast killed a single gobbo. In the shooting phase the Night Goblins failed to harm the Screamers with their short bows, but the Spear Chukka hit the Bloodcrusher. However, I passed my ward save. In combat the Orc Big 'Unz failed to harm the Warshrine and took 2 casualties in return, the Warshrine passing its break test. In the fight between the Bloodletters and Savage Orcs, I now got re-rolls to hit against the basic boyz (and they had lost their frenzy). My Bloodreaper was killed by the Warboss in a challenge, but the Bloodletters made mincemeat of the Savages and killed the BSB and Shaman too. I failed nearly all my ward saves from the return attacks and lost 7 Daemons, but still won by a large margin. This time they failed their test and were run down, the Bloodletters stopping just short of the enemy Idol. It looked like we were starting to pull the game back.

TURN 4
With time running short we just stuck to the stuff that mattered. The Screamers charged the building again, hoping to drive off the Great Shaman and his unit. The Bloodcrusher charged the Spear chukka, and my HoT moved further away from the Pump Wagon and out of short bow range of the Night goblins. Magic saw me try to blast the Pump Wagon but it was once more dispelled. In combat the Warshrine held again vs the Orcs, whilst the Bloodcrusher killed one Goblin crewman and but got stabbed to death in return! Finally the Screamers and Goblins did 2 wounds each and the combat ended a draw. In the Greenskin turn I insisted the Mangler and Fanatics attempted to move in case they hit anything important, and was rewarded with the sight of the last Mangler Squig rolling a tripple 1 and collapsing on the spot! The Fanatics all went 11" but didn't hit anything. The Pump Wagon gave up on the HoT and flank charged the Warshrine instead. In the magic phase the Great Shaman unleashed a boosted Vindictive Glare against the HoT with irresistable force. I passed most my saves but he still died. The archers fired at the last Screamer but did nothing. In the final combat the Warshrine neither took or caused any wounds, but lost combat by a lot and failed its break test, fleeing 2" and easily being run down. With that the game was over.
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After counting it up twice they were only 86pts ahead of us so the game was a draw. We acheived one of our missions to the Hero level (killing characters) and would have completed it to the Lord level (kill ALL characters) if we could have just got that Great shaman. We failed to acheive the other one, whatever that was. Can't remember what their's were but I think they completed both to the Hero level. There were a lot of things that could have swung this game either way on the VP's - the Mangler looks like the key event as it was the last piece of bad luck, but if the Crusher hadn't died to the Spear Chukka that would have been irrelevant. The Warshrine being caught was another late swing (it could have easily outran its persuers), as was the Screamers surviving and the HoT being killed (a 265pt swing as they got a bonus 100pts for him being my General, even though Throgg counted as the General for that game). I could have left my HoT out of range of Vindictive Glare and not sure why I took the chance, although the Screamers would have been targeted instead and the game would still have ended up a draw.

Ultimately what cost us from potentially winning I think was that we got too crowded at the beginning and couldn't bring our main combat units to bear until some of them were dead and out of the way. I could have sent the Bloodletters the other way around the Idol to attack the Orc Big 'Unz and Night Goblins with fanatics, and I'm sure in spite of taking casualties they would have beaten those units, but we wouldn't have picked up enough VP's from those units and would have lost the game as a result.

Our chance of winning was pretty much gone, but could we make the top 3? Stay tuned to find out.

[JonathanC]

GAME 5
This was the last game of the tournament. With our draw from last round we had dropped down to table 5 (where we started!) and were on the same table as our last opponents! After speaking to the judges, they randomly allocated us to one of the adjoining tables, so we ended up back on table 4 again, this time facing a team called "Squig Sauce" who were another Orc & Goblin double act. The last scenario had a 50/50 chance of being Battle for the Pass or Blood & Glory, and we were very relieved when it turned out to be the former of the two. Their lists looked like this:

Orc Shaman - level 2
Orc Big Boss - BSB, extra choppa, Banner of Eternal Flame (not again!)
34 Orc Big 'Unz - shields, Full Command, Banner of Discipline
Night Goblin Warboss
Night Goblin Big Boss - BSB
Night Goblin Great Shaman (lvl 3) - Channeling staff
Night Goblin Shaman - lvl 2, Dispel Scroll
60 Night Goblins - spears, netters, Full command, 3 Fanatics
Squig Herd - 12 Squigs, 6 Handlers
2 x Trolls
2 x Mangler Squigs
3 x Pump Wagons
2 x Doom Divers

Their terrain piece was a Tower of Blood (units within 6" from Forces of Destruction get Hatred and Frenzy). We won the roll for table edge and chose the side with more forests so they wouldn't get in the way when attacking. We placed the Idol of Gork in the centre of the board, whilst they deployed their Tower in the centre of their deployment zone (since we were playing on the same board from the last game, this meant they had the side with the large round tower and fences). We set our army with Throgg and his Trolls in the centre, purple Trolls and Bloodletters either side and the Marauder Horsemen, Fiends, Scyla and Screamers on the flanks. They deplyed the Orcs in horde formation in front of the Tower of Blood, with the Night Goblins to their left and just behind - also in range of the Tower. The Squigs were to the Orcs right and the Manglers and Trolls went in front of them and the Night Goblins. One Pump Wagon went on the flank near the round tower, while the other 2 went on the other flank. Unfortunately with the last minute switch around and hurry to set up, I forgot to take any pictures again.

Turn 1
We got the first turn but realised we had forgotten to vanguard the Horsemen. Fortunately our opponents allowed us to do it anyway which was good of them. The purple Trolls failed their stupidity test and stumbled 6" forwards. Throgg's unit passed and moved up in support, while the Bloodletters went straight for the Night Goblins. Thanks to their vanguard move, the Marauder Horsemen were able to reach the nearest Mangler and killed it, wiping themselves out in the process (this move should have triggered the Fanatics though, but that got overlooked at the time). Scyla went straight forwards, but not very quickly, and the Crusher moved up just in front of him, trying to keep out of range of the Pump Wagons, as did the Fiend and Screamers on that flank. The Fiend on the other flank advanced, also keeping its distance from the Pump Wagon. In the magic phase I cast a boosted Pha's Protection but also miscast and took a wound on my HoT. In the shooting phase the Eye of the Gods turned its gaze on Throgg and his Trolls, granting them all +1Ld.

The Greenskin turn started with the Night Goblins failing their animosity check. There was nothing in charge range so they squabbled. Their Trolls passed their stupidity test and advanced to block our Trolls and the Bloodletters. The Pump Wagon on our right didn't want to get closer to the Fiend, so turned to face the tower and stopped moving almost immediately. On the other flank one Pump Wagon went for the other Fiend, but fell a bit short, and the other made contact with the Bloodcrusher. Finally the Mangler advanced towards the purple Trolls, falling a bit short but ending up in a very awkward position. With the Night Goblins squabbling only the Orc Shaman could cast anything. Eadbutt was cast but turned the range wasn't high enough to get the HoT, and he just failed to cast Hand of Gork. The Doom Divers both fired at the HoT, one missing and the other misfiring and being unable to shoot for 2 turns. In combat the Pump Wagon and the Bloodcrusher did a wound each and the Daemon died to instability, the crazed Snotlings overrunning into the Screamers (this shouldn't have happened due to the new FAQ but I forgot).

Turn 2
Both Troll units passed their stupidity tests. We were a bit stuck since if Throgg charged he would block the path for the purple Trolls, but if the purple Trolls charged they would land on the Mangler Squig. We charged in the purple Trolls. They squished the Mangler of course but Dave's regen rolls were terrible and they lost 8 wounds! Scyla ran into the Pump Wagon that had charged the Screamers, and confident he would destroy it and overrun into the other one the nearby Fiend ignored it and advanced to face the Squig herd's flank. The other Fiend attempted to charge the Pump Wagon that had deliberately run into the tower but didn't get close. Finally the Bloodletters charged the other Troll blocking their way. Although it wasn't within 8" of the Night goblins, their massive wheel to close the door bought them in range and 3 Fanatics were released. They all fell an inch short but completing the charge meant the Bloodletters finished on top of the Fanatics, causing 6D6 S5 hits on them! Fortunately the number of hits was below average and my saves were OK so I only lost 9. They also went into the forest in the middle, which turned out to be an Abyssal Wood (appropriate enough, as it was the exact same forest Abyssal wood as last game). Throgg moved past the combat involving the other Trolls, and the HoT joined the unit to avoid being hit by the Doom Diver.

The magic phase was pretty ineffectual and we were happy with Throgg being Ld9 so went straight to combat. The Bloodletters slaughtered the Troll and reformed slightly, facing off the Orcs and Night Goblins. The purple Trolls failed to kill the lone enemy Troll, and waht was worse took a wound which resulted in another Troll dying. With a flank charge it was easily beaten through so ran off, and the Trolls reformed to face the Squig herd. The Pump wagon killed a Screamer with impact hits, but got torn aprt by the Daemons and Scyla who overran into the other Pump Wagon on our left table edge.

In the Orc & Goblin turn we dared them to charge the Squigs into the purple Trolls, which they did and made it in. The Pump Wagon near the round tower decided to attempt a charge this time, but fell short of the Fiend by 2". The other units passed their animosity and frenzy restraining tests and held their ground, whilst the fleeing Troll rallied and turned to face Throgg. In the magic phase a boosted Curse of Da Bad Moon was attempted against the Bloodletters, but I used my Spellbreaker to stop it. In combat Scyla ripped apart the other Pump Wagon on that flank, but was wounded in the process, whilst the Squigs ran rampant over the purple Trolls killing 2 (more terrible saves), who could only kill one in return. They broke and were run down by the hungry Cave Squigs, a shame as if the Trolls had held they would have been T5 next round.

Turn 3
Again we were stuck a bit with units being in awkward positions. I wanted the Bloodletters to charge just one of the 2 hordes facing them, but the Night Goblins were boxed in by the buildings and Orcs so charging them solo was impossible due to my wider frontage and them being too deep to wheel without hitting the Orcs. I couldn't charge the Orcs because I would hit the gobbos with my wheel before getting close. In the end, I decided I had no choice but to charge both and hope for the best. Throgg and his unit charged the recently rallied Troll to show 'im who wuz boss. The Fiend that was flanking the Squigs charged the Doom Diver in the Tower of Blood, while the other Fiend charged the remaining Pump Wagon. Scyla moved into the Squig herd's flank, and the Screamers failed to march so glided forwards and turned to cover the Squigs and Orcs. This just left the Warshine, which moved up to the Idol ready to charge in next turn.

In the magic phase I didn't get many dice so went for Briona's Timewarp on the Bloodletters which they failed to dispel. In combat Scyla took a wound but did more damage to the Squigs who failed their break test. The Squigs were removed and Scyla took another wound from the rampaging balls of teeth, and the Trolls took two. Throgg tried to assert his dominance over the enemy Troll, but it regenerated all the damage and wounded Throgg in reply. Throgg's buddies finished it off and they overran, but fell well short of the Orcs. The Fiend wounded the Pump Wagon and it died from unstable, the Fiend overrunning a few inches towards the Doom Diver (another mistake like earlier with the Bloodcrusher). The other Fiend, now affected by the Tower of Blood, easily tore apart the Doom Diver crew and reformed to face the rear of the Orcs. Finally we resolved the combat involving the Bloodletters. The Night Goblins successfully netted them reducing their Strength to 4. Because of this the damage was limited to about 5 Orcs and 10 gobbos, although I did also kill the Orc Shaman, Night Goblin Great Shaman and the Night Goblin Boss (last one in a challenge with the Bloodreaper) With both units being in horde formation and having hatred and frenzy from the Tower of Blood (plus a Night Goblin Big Boss and Warboss I had forgotted to target) the Bloodletters took heavy casualties and lost the combat by 6, another 7 dying to instability. Six Khorne Deamons were left to pin both units in place.

In the Orc & Goblin turn they had very little to do since the only unit not pinned in combat was the Doom Diver. It tried to target the nearby Fiend but was way off. Magic was non-existant as the last Shaman had nothing he could cast into combat. In combat the Bloodletters were netted again. The Bloodreaper killed the Orc Boss in a challenge, and I took out a few gobbos too. I also targeted both Night Goblin characters, but failed to land a killing blow on either of them. Four Daemons were killed in return and I didn't lose as badly this time, but the last 2 Bloodletters still died.

Turn 4
Rather than charge a frenzied horde of Big 'Unz we wanted to move Throgg up and kill several with his breath weapon. This was scuppered however when the frenzied Fiend failed to restrain itself and charged the Orcs in the rear, so we decided to go all in and charged them in the front with Throgg and his Trolls (plus Herald who was still with the unit), the Screamers and the Warshrine. The remaining Fiend charged the tower with the last Doom diver in. In the magic phase Speed of Light on the Trolls was dispelled, but I managed to get Briona's Timewarp off on them (I would have preferred it the other way round though). In the shooting phase we decided to swap the Warshine's current benefit for something more offensive, but rolled up Magic Resistance (3) instead. In combat Throgg issued a challenge and the only character left was the BSB, who declined. Throgg killed a couple of Orcs with his attacks and used his breath weapon, but only got 5 hits killing a couple more. Lots more Orcs were killed by the combined attacks of the Fiend, Screamers and Warshrine. In reply the Screamers were wounded, a Troll was killed and the Orcs threw everything they could at Throgg and did 3 wounds, killing him (no regen as they had flaming attacks). The Herald had also killed an Orc, but got dragged down in return. We won combat by a massive margin but the Orcs were still steadfast by a single model and held (we realised afterwards we'd forgotten to stomp). The other Fiend killed a goblin crewman but took a wound in return so the combat was a draw, the Fiend being pushed away from the tower.

In their turn the Night Goblins charged the Warshrine and netted it. The Orc BSB returned to the front rank and was wounded by the Screamers but still lived (and still granted flaming attacks to his unit). In reply he killed a Screamer. The Fiend and Trolls killed a whole bunch more Orcs before they could strike, but with S3 now the Warshrine failed to inflict any damage. Another Troll was killed by the Orcs, but their attacks bounced off the Warshrine and the Fiend also escaped unscathed. We lost combat by a bit and the remaining Trolls and Warshrine fled, the shrine being run down by the Night Goblins. The Screamers died from instability, but the Fiend held, stopping the Orcs from persuing the Trolls.

With that time was up and the game over. We didn't bother to count VP's since with both their main units left it was obvious the Greenskins had won. We managed to complete one of our special mission too (none of Dave's units fled the battlefield) but I failed to complete mine (mainly because I misunderstood it and picked the wrong one). It was a pretty good game, possibly the best of the weekend, and it was a shame I didn't get any actual photos of it.
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In the end we finished a decent 21st out of 113 teams, with our opponents from round 4 finishing 3rd so we'd obviously done well to hold them to a draw. The winners were a dual-Steam Tank Empire team that I reckon we would have stood a chance against if we'd faced them. If either of the last 2 armies hadn't had flaming banners we also might have done a bit better. I think we saw more flaming banners than we did regenerating units, so I have to wonder if people were overly paranoid about it - I imagine in most of their games it had no effect at all and left their BSB's quite vulnerable. In our area its not used so often as people are worried they will run into Dragonhelm characters and the like which will be nigh impossible for the unit to kill. It was a good event and I'm hoping we will be able to attend it again next year.

Rather than post up my poor photos of the best armies I'll just include this link to the Warhammer World facebook page which has over 100 photos of the event (you don't need to be a member to view it): doubles photos

And finally I couldn't go to Warhammer World without getting the following picture: