Wild Boyz Turn 3His shooting finally did some serious damage. One Knight unit was wiped out and he got two direct hits on the GS. My failure to overrun was even more damaging now that I only had 1 Knight unit to hit the Warmachine nest!
Winter Forge Turn 3The GS charge into the NG was a no-brainer- I needed to get the points or make them run in to the way of the Savages.
I had plenty of diverters on that side to continue to flee from his Savages if he decided to charge them.
The ICK moved in under the 12 inch range of the Warmachine nest to avoid being targeted.
After the Night Gobbos were destroyed, I reformed my GS into a horde formation. If the Savages charged the STank, or were forced to because of failed Animosity or Frenzy, I would be in a position to charge them in the flank and try to do max damage on the first turn of combat- when I had both Hatred on my side. A horde formation would also allow me to keep my Gen and BSB on the edge of the horde to avoid being targeted by the crazed Savages.
Wild Boyz Turn 4Finally the Savage Orcs failed an Animosity roll or Frenzy roll. I knew if I delayed long enough, sooner or later they would be forced to charge on their own. By keeping my GS consistently to the side of the Savages I set up the bloodbath as best I could to my advantage. Even if he somehow managed to wipe out my STank in one turn, they would be forced to overrun and stop at my Archers and I would get the flank or rear of the Savage horde. The GS charge would be on my turn and hopefully I could get some buffs off too.
I knew he was going to get one of his spells off on his turn- either Hand of Gork or Ere We Go. I didn’t want the Black Orcs getting into the action too quickly so I stopped Hand of Gork and let Ere We Go be cast. Giving the Savages hit rerolls was going to hurt, but I couldn’t afford his other block breathing down my neck on T5!
I survived his shooting without too much pain. My GS horde had taken some damage…but it still had plenty left to put out some hurt.
I knew the STank was going to take some wounds, but losing 5 wounds in one round sucked! Choppas are so nasty! But at least he got the +1 Str on the STank and not on my GS…
Winter Forge Turn 4Finally! I got a unit into that damn Warmachine nest and could hit the lone Chukka on the hill. Keeping those Knights moving and on the board was a major feat- they were constantly under fire, made DT tests, and had to make more Panic tests than I care to remember. Praise Ulric for our decent leadership on the Knights!
I moved both sets of Archers up in the gap to get in the way of the Blorcs and do a double-flee if he charged them. Good thing too- because they were in the way he couldn’t complete a long distance charge against the ass of the STank.
I moved the Halb det back 2 inches to get out of his Savage Orc Shaman’s line of sight. I didn’t want him to snipe my Lvl4 Wizard with Direct Damage spells!
I got a decent magic phase and got off Speed of Light and Shield of Faith on the GS. The WS10 was key- while I had Hatred I wanted to pour every attack necessary at his WS10 Savage Orc Shaman to knock the 5+ Ward back down to a 6+ and take out his magic phase. He challenged with the Shaman so I declined and he sent my BSB to the back. Not all plans come to fruition- even with the buffs, I only managed to get 2 unsaved wounds on the crazy bastard. Hopefully I could knock him off next turn.
As you saw, that first round of combat was all about defense. On 9 wounds, my GS made 7 AS/WS on 5+ and his Savages made 6 out of 8 5+ Wards. Insane. All this combat power and the edge goes to the mighty D. The good news for me- the Savage Orcs lost Frenzy and my STank lived with 1 wound.
As I mentioned in the Battle Thread, I didn’t combat reform to get more GS into combat because I wanted to keep my Gen hanging off the south of the formation to not be targeted and keep his leadership bubble in the south, and I didn’t want to expose my formation on the north side.
His Blorcs were trying to close in- if I exposed my horde in the north he could have potentially moved the Blorcs that way, got off a Hand of Gork, and put the formation in my flank. On his next turn, this would have meant the Blorcs could charge, have Hatred, Frenzy, and a chip on their shoulders. I think my GS would not have survived the game in that scenario. Because I didn’t expose the north side, he went south with the Blorcs hoping my STank would die and he could make it in.
Wild Boyz Turn 5My dispel priorities were exactly opposite this phase from last. Because I had Speed of Light still for this combat round, I needed to make sure he didn’t get To-Hit rerolls. Savages needing 5 and 6s to hit is MUCH better than 4s. That meant I finally had to let Hand of Gork go- which meant that I delayed dealing with those nasties until Turn 6. It was the best I could do.
It took everything I had to finally get 1 more unsaved wound on the Shaman but I finally got him. Some of you may have never targeted the Shaman and focused all attacks on the unit- to go for the failed Break test. The reason I wanted the Shaman dead is that there was no guarantee that I would catch the Savages if they broke- if they bounced far enough away he could have possibly rallied, got the Blorcs in the way and kept all those victory points away from me. Also- once free from combat and facing the right way, that Savage Orc Shaman could start blasting me again with Direct Damage spells. That Shaman had to die- and if my rolls were average in that first round of combat, he would have been dead. This is one reason I love GS- because of Stubborn you sometimes have the luxury of targeting characters while your RnF get whacked on, because you are not worried about CR.
Speed of Light with To-Hit rerolls paid off- his Savage RnF failed to kill even 1 GS. He made a Break test on 5, so now my next magic phase was going to be crucial again.
Winter Forge Turn 5My Knights were soaking up the extra points on the board nicely.
Several people on the Battle Thread asked why I didn’t reform the GS to get more into combat and provide less of a front for the Blorcs. One, which I already stated, was that I wanted my AL in range of the Archers for their rally. If things somehow really went bad for me and I lost the GS, I was going to need all the points on the board I could to maybe pull out a draw.
Two, I was banking on winning the combat again for the third time. If the Savages broke from combat and outdistanced me, I wanted max frontage in the south to hopefully hit the Blorcs on the pursue. By not reforming and getting all front models into base contact, I had the freedom at the start of the combat phase to “make way” with my General where I wanted to. If my magic phase sucked, he would stay where he was at, if my magic phase was good and I got some good buffs off, he would move up. Moving him up would with good buffs would also serve another purpose- when I pursued after winning combat, he would not be on the southern end and would not end up in base contact with the Blorcs if I hit them. I didn’t want my General anywhere near his General.
I couldn’t had asked for a better time to get a monster magic phase- 12PD to 6DD and he had no Wizards left so no magic defense. Even if I didn’t get a good Winds of Magic roll I was going to pop my Forbidden Rod on the Lvl1 mage to boost my dice- this magic phase was key.
I really wanted to make every dice count so I tossed the Prayers early that had no chance of miscast so then I could start tossing more dice on the Light buffs. Of course, the first time I cast dice with the possibility of a miscast I get it on 3 dice! Well, at least the GS are fully buffed and ready to roll! It is amazing how well Speed of Light does against WS4 troops. GS that have Speed of Light, Hammers of Sigmar, and Shield of Faith on them are downright nasty! The Savage Orcs didn’t stand a chance- and they finally broke.
After Action CommentsThis was a tight battle. The VP totals at the end weren’t close, but the game was neck to neck until the very end. Rothgar is an excellent General and it was my honor to throw down against him.
--I loved my Outriders. They helped killed a Mangler up front and knocked some models off his big blocks. I could have used them at any time to fly up and divert but the combat worked out to where I didn’t need to. I plan to keep using them. The key is the first turn placement- you don’t have to move them forward just to get shots off in the first turn, where you really want them is in a position to not have to move as long as possible to lay down fire in a zone you want covered as long as possible. Outrider 1 was my favorite unit this battle- chilling behind the wall, never moving, and throwing down lead!
--This game proved to me yet one more time that the STank needs to stay near the Griffon. Every time I get them separated for some reason, something bad happens to one or the other. The died honorably and gave my Griffon time to do its work.
--I couldn’t form a classic Griffon formation obviously, but the Archers served their purposes well by diverting and sacrificing themselves on Fanatics. I like having lots of mobile Knight units in my list with the Griffon. Having a big nasty troop block is nice, but you have to have mobility, speed, diverters, shooting and magic nukes to complement and support it. Take a few of those away and your opponent can start dictating to you the flow of the battle.
--O&G can throw lots of nasty stuff at you but Animosity and Frenzy can really mess up your day. I figured if I could dangle units in front of the Savages long enough they would eventually fail a roll and have to do something Rothgar didn’t want them to. As we all know, going head to head with a Savage Orc block stacked like that one is not going to end pretty. The damn STank lost half his wounds in one round!
--I hoped that all of you enjoyed that battle as much as I did. I learn new things every time I do one of these. Nothing like having a whole forum keep tabs on events to make sure everything is right.
Encourage comments/suggestions, etc- especially from you Rothgar!
HHG
