Round 4: Orcs & Goblins, Ben
What was I up against? A Lots of similarities to round 3. A level 4 Orc Shaman leading a huge mob of Savage Orc Boyz – Big Unz. A big boss leading a big block of Black Orcs. A solo night goblin boss on a wolf. A big block of night goblins with fanatics. A solo goblin wolf chariot. A solo boar chariot. 2 solo trolls. A giant. x2 Doom Divers, x2 Rock Lobbers. All in all, a good feeling O&G army… some randomness, a definite ready to rumble combat type core and some weird and wild shooting.
How did it go down? Ben was pretty unlucky. The scenario allowed us to curse throughout the game. He got the first turn, and I used my curse on his first shooting phase, making 3 of 4 war machines not be able to shoot. The 1 that could shoot was a doom diver, and it misfired, and he rolled a 1. Twang. See ya. One airborne goblin later, it was my turn. I spent my first 2 turns maneuvering and making mostly ineffective shots with cannon. I wounded the giant. I killed a troll. Sadly, this was about the best my cannon did all tournament.
Start of his T3, we began to close. He charged my crossbows and eventually flanked my flagellants. He was in position to charge them in the rear actually. I charged his solo troll with the archers. I won combat (??), I pursued, and I drew out the fanatics. Yay! One hit the archers, the other 2 fell short and dizzied around the “No Man’s Land” between our two big combat lines.
He continued to shell my General on a Griffon with Rocks that be lobbed. I kept surviving, due to charmed shield and Opal Amulet and good (or bad, form his perspective) scatter dice. He sent his giant charging towards my Level 2 Beasts. She ran. The giant redirected into my ICKs. Taking away the charge was huge here, as I was counting on that S6 to finish off a badly injured giant.
Here’s a rule question that we debated, but never came to be. A giant is fighting stuff with his same I. so, naturally they strike at the same time. What happens if a giant rolls a “Yell and Bawl” result for his random combat table? Do the opposing units that are same I get to attack simultaneously?
After two rounds, the giant was finished off by, of all things, a horse bite. This let my ICKs reform and set the stage for the best movement phase of the tournament for me. In 1 phase, I charged (1) the ICKs into the fanatic-less night Goblins, AND (2) the Greatswords into the Savage Orc Horde, AND (3) the DGKs into the Savage Orc Horde, AND (4) the Flagellants into the Black Orcs, AND (5) the Crossbowmen into the flank of the Black Orcs, AND (6) the General on a Griffon into the Savage Orc Horde.
Like I said, this round had curses. I had used 1 already to nerf his war machine shooting on T1. He got to use a curse back on me, and it stopped the charge of the crossbowmen into the flank of the Black Orcs. Also, the General/Griffon failed his charge due to limited frontage to physically fit in to combat.
This was huge, lots of stuff died. But, all of his units remained steadfast. My attacks didn’t kill the BSB and both his BSB and General kept his troops in the fight. I killed 15 of the Black Orcs in Round 1 of combat with the Flags. But, then quickly lost steam. The crossbowmen got in on the flank next turn, but by then the Flags were tired and down to S3.
Lessons Learned Ben was unlucky. He rolled a LOT of misfires and a fair share of 1’s to wound when he needed 2+s. He never failed an animosity test, FWIW. War Machines against a General of a Griffon are scary, but, the Charmed Shield and Opal Amulet are a great investment (at a combined 20 points). As good as Flagellants are in the first round… they can be equally bad on rounds 2, 3, 4 and so on. Losing re-rolls and/or losing frenzy and/or going down to S3 makes them pretty much state troops. Biggest lesson learned: Orcs & Goblins are fun to play against (for me at least). Ben got off the boosted Foot of Gork twice, but each time only stomped once. He was not rolling as many 6’s as Brian had.
