Topic: First game Disaster

[Rockingham]

Hello Folks

So last night I got my first game of 8th Ed in which is probably my second or third game of Warhammer fantasy ever!  Its a good job I look on the brighter side of life because after last nights performance my Empire career could have been the shortest ever.  I decide to play my mates High Elves at a 1500 pt battle, I took a mix of magic, warmachines and my favorite unit Greatswords just to get a feel of the game system and how the Empire play.

Here is an overview of how my turns go:-

Turn 1
My level 4 Life Mage sitting in the Greatswords unit casts Throne of Vines (I think thats the right name?) I use 3 dice and roll IF, I then roll double 1 on the miscast table and he blows 11 Greatswords up and gets sucked into the nether himself.

Never mind me thinks I've still got a crap load of guns to fire.  My Mortar scatters 10" and misses completely whilst my first cannon fires and sinks the shot into the ground just short of my target.  The second cannon then misfires and blows up! 

Turn 2
Things are'nt so bad I have still got some artillery left so I fire my remaining cannon, misfire, roll a 1, Boom.  Ok this is bad guess I'll fire my my Mortar to make myself feel better, misfire, roll a 1, Boom!

So in two turns  I blew up half of my own army, naturally the battle went down hill from there resulting in a rather one side High Elf Victory.  Not a good start to my 8th Ed gaming experiecne but afterwards we had a beer and a good laugh about it all, I've sent my chief Engineer back to Nuln to purchase more hardware and told him to replace that cheap Nipon gunpowder he bought from those bloody Halfling traders!

just thought I'd share this with you all 

[Delthos]

We've all had days like that. Suck it up and soldier on. You'll have some days where all your artillery is spot on, your spells are cast succesfully and not dispelled, and your Helblaster Volley gun fires every turn of the game rolls above average number of shots and doesn't blow itself up. When that happens, Empire will be the best army ever and you'll love them. Don't let a bunch of really bad dice rolls spoil your like of the Empire, or even Warhammer itself.

[GambitGriffin]

You have to pay blood tribute to the dice gods before every game! That should be common knowledge amongst empire generals and that's why I frequently adopt chinesee babies...

[Finlay]

Did you fail the throne of vines roll to prevent miscast damage?

Also, take an Engineer to help with misfire.

Really bad luck though.
You will lose a lot of games to start with as you learn about your army, and other armys.
I still remember the first time I played demons.
"t 4 skirmishers with 2 wounds and d6 shots, each?! Let me see your rulebook... Oh,.. you're right"

[the_cheatachu]

It happens....just had a game myself where Brave Empire Soldiers failed six Ld 8 panic/break tests in a row.  Turned a solid victory into...well, you can imagine.

[Helgrim]

So you rolled double six, a one followed by double one for the spell mess up? That's impressive! Perhaps you should check your dice for some high elf trickery 

[Odominus]

Did you fail the throne of vines roll to prevent miscast damage?

So you rolled a 1....followed by 2 more 1's? Thats just pure bad luck amigo. Give it another go. The law of averages is your friend

[GambitGriffin]

One common mistake I have see many empire players, including myself, is that we try to much each enemy block with one of ours. This isn't working very well cuz out troops need support from each other. To hold back one turn longer and let the arty do what arty do best could help a bit.
The problem is when you are not out numbring your enemy but then you have to try to deploy as much of your army at one side or use mass artillery to break a whole in the flank and get behind with knights or something, even if the knights doesn't break anything anymore a small units in the rear can still hold up a enemy block for some time.

Of course I don't know if you made that mistake, you have really bad luck in this game but as a new player it is a good chance that you eventually do some rookie mistake, we have all been there

[Finlay]

One common mistake I have see many empire players, including myself, is that we try to much each enemy block with one of ours. This isn't working very well cuz out troops need support from each other. To hold back one turn longer and let the arty do what arty do best could help a bit.
The problem is when you are not out numbring your enemy but then you have to try to deploy as much of your army at one side or use mass artillery to break a whole in the flank and get behind with knights or something, even if the knights doesn't break anything anymore a small units in the rear can still hold up a enemy block for some time.

Of course I don't know if you made that mistake, you have really bad luck in this game but as a new player it is a good chance that you eventually do some rookie mistake, we have all been there

Well he couldn't use his artillery because it all blew up.

[MrDWhitey]

I remember my first game. My cannon (only machine) exploded on it's first shot.

[Warrior Priest Chris]

In our circle of friends we have a saying, "Painted models roll better." is your army painted? I suggest painting the artillery at least so that the guns feel better about themselves 

[Rockingham]

Thats right double six for the miscast, followed by a one on the ToV save followed by two more ones, I could have cried.  It would have been nice to have my Arty support the rest of my troops, but unfortunately it all blew up 

It hasn't put me off though as soon as the new Cannons arrive we'll be straight back into it.

And no my stuff wasn't painted which is probably the source of my utter bad luck.

[Warrior Priest Chris]

Dont get me wrong I'm not a paint nazi I play with unpainted models all the time. I try and paint the important stuff as soon as possible though!

[Empire - Ulric]

Thats right double six for the miscast, followed by a one on the ToV save followed by two more ones, I could have cried.  It would have been nice to have my Arty support the rest of my troops, but unfortunately it all blew up 

It hasn't put me off though as soon as the new Cannons arrive we'll be straight back into it.

And no my stuff wasn't painted which is probably the source of my utter bad luck.

You can pray, bribe, appease, bargain with and cajole the Dice Gods. However sometimes their answer is simply "&*%$ You"

[Delthos]

In our circle of friends we have a saying, "Painted models roll better." is your army painted? I suggest painting the artillery at least so that the guns feel better about themselves 

I can't agree with this statement. Every time I've fielded a new unpainted war machine for the first time, they've blown up on the first shot. Then on the two that are painted, the first time I fielded them after painting them, they blew up on the first shot. In all cases they've settled down after those first games. I attribute it to nervousness/stage fright of the models in being used for the first time, and being used in their new digs. They blow up right around where odds say they should now. Of course that's over all games I've played them. Some games more, some games less.

[Syn Ace]

Well, you had horrible luck in dice rolling but on the bright side, at least you weren't playing craps in Las Vegas.

So, I'd definitely buy an Engineer if I were you!

[TexasYankee]

Welcome to the Empire, brother! Do not fret, for our lord Sigmar was just testing you to see if you could stomach a brutal defeat. Our history is replete with disasters such as yours, but, after 2,500 years, The Empire is still the greatest country in The Old World. Rally those State Troops! New cannons are forged as we speak! The Colleges of Magic just finished graduation ceremonies! You shall do battle again! For Sigmar!

Verily,

TexasYankee

[stretch_135]

You can pray, bribe, appease, bargain with and cajole the Dice Gods. However sometimes their answer is simply "&*%$ You"

Sigged :p

Best of luck with your next game - make sure you let us know how it goes.

[Warwhore]

Yesterday I played against WC. First turn I take aim with my cannon at his chaos spawn and what do you know? MISFIRE! I then proceeded to roll a 1... I also had a steam tank that failed to hit anything with its cannon; all the shots came up short. I've been placing the marker roughly 5 inches from the target. I'm curious as to where other people place their initial markers.

[Wendersnaven]

I really appreciated this article years ago war http://warhammer-empire.com/warroom/general/tactica-war-machines/

I believe it still has a lot of useful concepts even with the rule changes.  Good luck out there all! 

[Rockingham]

Empire Engineer direct order from GW £8, Repeater Pistol just in case 10 points, re roll a misfired artillery dice PRICELESS!!

Thanks for the replies guys made me feel welcome to the forum

[Porkix]

That reminds me of one of my funniest game at the time of the 5th edition against the dead legion of my friend:
- he went first, cast curse of the ages with irresistible force on my knights including my general
- my general died
- in this edition, you roll for panic when you general die
- 2/3 of my army are out of the table...
...
- we replay the first turn as if nothing happened 

As long as you are gaming with nice dudes, everything is fun

Porkix

[Cannonofdoom]

I find models that I have bled on during assembly perform better during games. It has to be accidental blood though, as intentional blood magic seems not to work.

[subedai]

Empire Engineer direct order from GW £8, Repeater Pistol just in case 10 points, re roll a misfired artillery dice PRICELESS!!

Thanks for the replies guys made me feel welcome to the forum

Engineer is awesome.

I highly recommend chucking a 50 man horde with a warrior priest on the table too if you have the models. I get sworn at every time i pull that movement tray out 

[Electric Pylon]

Keep at it brother. One day your artillery will rain down from the skies and wash the scum from the streets!