My friend Sean(Racticus) and I attended the Axgrinder GT. Not only was it our first GT it was our first games. We were like lost sheep. It was horrible. Sean and I ended up without any wins, and had to play the first game of the second day against each other. To keep from being the bottom of the tourney. By the fourth game (this one) though we were starting to get the hang of it.
Sean's army was basically:
2 Regiments of Knights
2 cannons
1 mortar
Horde of Handgunners of Hurt
Regiment of Greatswords
Regiment of Spearmen
Regiment of Swordsmen
2 troops of Militia
Troop of Pistoliers
Troop of Mounted Engineers (Carbines)
Steamtank
General on a Griffon
Magic User on Horse
BSB
I had my rat filth:
3 units of Slaves
1 unit of Vermintide (swarms basically)
Horde of Clan Rats
2 x regiments of Clan Rats
Horde of Rat Ogres
Horde of Plague Monks
Horde of Stormvermin
3 troops of jezzails
2 doom wheels
2 ratling guns
bsb, hero with bsb ring, and two mages
When I started thinking about this game, I thought my rats had no chance of beating him. His shooting was decent, his cavalry units, steamtank and general were very powerful foes. Honestly, I didn't know how to deal with them in melee or how to deal with his ranged attacks.
I devised a plan based on all of my losses and draws. This time I put my Plague Monks in front instead of getting them trapped behind and moved towards his line. On their right flank was a unit of Stormvermin, on their left another horde of Clan Rats. My other units of stuff formed a chaff line on the left to protect my shooters.
He loaded up his left flank with nasty knights, steamtank, pistoliers and the griffon. In response I deployed both doom wheels, a regiment of clan rats, my wizard of blizzard, and 10 jezzails.
Though I complained about terrain the entire time, this was the best battlefield I fought on yet. It actually looked like a battlefield. On the other hand Sean was squeezed with the bad terrain. He marched right into my shooters. One unit of knights feel to shooting, one to melee, the pistoliers to shooting, and finally the griffon rider attacked a doomwheel and found out it wasn't a war machine but a monster. The steamtank tried to break through the evil Stormvermin and was slaughtered.
On the far left I tried to pressure him with slaves and my Rat Ogres, plus another regiment of Clan Rats. That ended up with me basically at a stalemate there. His stuff held, and the terrain prevented me from exploiting any gains.
The middle though was a tough fight! He had the bulk of his infantry there. My Plague Monks survived multiple volleys of handgunners They paid with their lives from a double charge of Plague Monks and the tank killing Stormvermin.
Sean's big shooting did almost nothing. There aren't very many juicy targets in my army. When he did have a decent shot he missed with his cannons and mortar.
As long time Empire players, we were both almost stunned by the poor showing. The terrain had a LOT to do with it though. It really kept his artillery from doing anything. I mean for 240 points he could have had a horde of something and support. A horde of something could have easily held his right flank. We both really liked the Steamtank, Griffon Rider, and the Knights. I think those go in the do not leave home without them category. The handgunner horde, didn't do as much as I would have thought. I'm thinking it would have worked better in three smaller units, but I honestly don't know. One of the star troops in his game was the Mounted Scouts with Carbines. I'm not sure they are much better than archers against light troops, but they did well against armored targets.
My army was based on magic and infantry. The only thing I would have really changed was getting rid of the clan rats for more Plague Monks or Stormvermin. The Clan Rats are way worse than Empire infantry though they are faster. They really didn't hurt anything the entire time. The problem is I have over a hundred nicely painted ones that I would like to use. I'll use those for friendly games and leave them out of my tournament army.
Regardless we are trying to design the perfect army using out models. I'm even thinking about working on a Pegasus tactica again .