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Author Topic: The Battle of Heffengen  (Read 6034 times)

Offline Hoodling

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The Battle of Heffengen
« on: February 03, 2015, 10:16:10 PM »
Yes, we've been at it again. This game was played on New Years Day, and it's taken me this long to get the first 3 turns online thus far.

40,000 points, Empire vs Chaos with the odd splash of Undead as per the story told in End Times: Nagash.

http://hoodlinghole.blogspot.com.au/p/the-battle-of-heffengen.html

I'll update here when I get the final 3 turns up online.

Offline Jomppexx

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2015, 08:30:10 AM »
40,000 points?
Holy moly.
"Sigmar is like a barbaric, warrior Jesus, and only appeared to be a mortal man."
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Offline undivided.capital

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2015, 03:19:34 AM »
This is crazy awesome. How long did it take to play that out?
Thanks,

Sam Taylor

Offline Hoodling

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2015, 03:29:29 AM »
I think the game itself took 11 hours, plus a few hours to setup and pack everything up at the end.

Offline undivided.capital

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2015, 03:47:01 AM »
Wow! Well I will look forward to finding out if Empire came out for the win!
Thanks,

Sam Taylor

Offline Jomppexx

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2015, 08:16:06 AM »
Wow! Well I will look forward to finding out if Empire came out for the win!

Don't you mean

Wow! Well I will look forward to finding out how the Empire won.
"Sigmar is like a barbaric, warrior Jesus, and only appeared to be a mortal man."
Highlights :
8/2014 : Grandmaster slew a Chaos Lord in a challenge

Offline Hoodling

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2015, 02:45:20 AM »
Wow! Well I will look forward to finding out how the Empire won.

I promise nothing...

Turn 4 is up.

Offline Hoodling

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2015, 02:28:31 AM »
Turn 5 is now online.

Offline Hoodling

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2015, 08:47:13 AM »
Turn 6 is up, so we're all done. Has been for a few days, actually. Don't know what was wrong with the forums on Friday...

Offline Xathrodox86

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2015, 11:08:33 AM »
That is incredible. Such dedication and love for hobby always makes me all happy inside. Not to mention that those minis and table are simply awesome. :smile2:
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Offline Hoodling

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2015, 09:53:16 PM »
 :::cheers:::

Offline cisse

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2015, 08:41:09 AM »
Splendid battle report, Hoodling (as Always...). Hats off to you.  :smile2:
cisse

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Offline Naitsabes

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #12 on: February 27, 2015, 11:38:03 PM »
Great work!

Putting together the battle report must have taken longer than playing the game. And you did it the proper way as opposed to a shaky incomprehensible youtube video. I am glad someone is sticking to the old ways. My hat is off to you.

Random thoughts in random order:

- I am absolutely baffled how quick you guys are playing. I am sure you had water boys squirting Gatorade into parched mouths, wiping sweat off furrowed brows and helping out with whatever you did instead of bathroom breaks (don't want to think too much about that part). But still, 11hours ?!? that is quite a degree of athleticism on display

- really epic struggle there of minotaurs vs ww (?) knights. I am not clear how that last knight defeated the doom bull but that combat was my favorite part

- were you tempted fudging the dice a bit when the Great Unclean one whimpered away so early? Or Karl Franz's death was so ...unheroic?

- anything you learned about game balance for Chaos vs Empire in this type of games? e.g. it seems to me that big unit of beasts of nurgle is more or less impossible to deal with in six turns. Or what about panic? obviously that's a bigger issue on a table this size and affects Empire much more. are there things you would do differently in terms of army composition knowing what you know now?

- table size. To me the battle field seemed quite crowded with armies just filling out their deployment zone edge-to-edge and leading to units pretty much just moving straight ahead. I realize there are physical limitations to what size table one can set up and what you have is really grand but, in an imaginary world of infinite resources, would you have liked to play this on a bigger table?

- terrain. there is little to none outside the deployment zone. I assume that's by design. Is it just to speed up play? I think some impassible features breaking up charge lanes and line of sight would make things even more interesting

You've done this ..what, like three times now? Please consider writing a (lenghty!!) blog post with your thoughts and experiences (I think you did one a long time ago but you must know so much more now). I am pretty sure you are the preeminent authority when it comes to ridiculously-sized games. Please share, so chumps like me can follow your lead. And I hope the upcoming bubblehammer doesn't distract you guys and there will another game at the end of the year.

Keep it up! cheers.
The Empire Road to Volganof Last update 18Mar2023 - Pistoliers & Baggage train)

Offline Hoodling

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2015, 06:57:27 AM »
Yes, I'm old-fashioned. Written reports will probably always be my preference.

- We were playing quickly. Everyone involved in each of the large games was a very experienced warhammer player with very solid game knowledge and no need to stop to consult rule books. Everyone was also on the same page regarding why we were there, and what the priorities were - we had to keep the game moving and not waste time with minor "finagling" and nit-picking over rules. The key was to keep things flowing. We did stop for lunch, but this time we kind of skipped the dinner break. Nobody really said anything about dinner, actually. We kind of just pushed on through by mutual unspoken consent. Everyone could feel the end was in sight.

- Yeah, the white wolves against the minotaurs was an epic fight. The last minotaur to drop was not actually the doombull - he fell the previous round. I think it was the unit champion, although by that point I think he had 10 attacks anyway, so it made little difference...

- In each game there has been something that tempted us to "fudge" things. Malekith's dragon failing its strength test, Gurug'ath incompetence, etc. In each case we have resisted because it felt like it would compromise the game and once you start, where do you stop? Rather than end up with an artificial, "tampered" result, we just went with the original dice rolls. It's all kind of worked out each time anyway. It helps that in massive games like this, a single disaster will generally not dictate the overall result.

- Beasts of nurgle are very tough, yes. Turns out minotaurs are pretty brutal in large numbers, too. Some of these things really need magical intervention to swing things against them. Speed of Light or Throne of Vines/Flesh to Stone would have really slowed the minotaurs, whilst Flaming Sword of Rhuin would do wonders against the beasts. In general I don't have any specific cautionary tales about such things. Most of the time such units could be handled if they had come up against more suitable opposition or magic had taken a hand. Units that really power through the enemy or prove invincible are great for the stories too. It was just dull when the knights and beasts met, since they really cancelled each other out.

- Our tables have been congested in each of the big games. It's really a practicality thing in terms of space and resources. Ideally there would be more space, but you'd then have to consider whether you needed to implement some sort of "forced march" rules to compensate for units potentially being stranded far from the action. And you might find it impossible to accommodate your table (or reach models in the middle)...

- We kept the terrain out of the middle because it does just get in the way when you've moving huge units and as you've already noted, there was already a traffic problem in the middle. Unless it's somehow the focus, terrain will really just hinder your play without adding much in return. I had intended to frame parts of the table with trees in the corners and stuff, but forgot in the heat of the moment. Heffengen is fought on a plain anyway.

- I'll consider the blog post thing, when I have a bit of time on my hands. Who knows, I guess that could happen? :icon_rolleyes:

Cheers!


Offline Brontes

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #14 on: February 28, 2015, 09:46:36 AM »
Again a awesome report!  :::cheers:::

Offline Xathrodox86

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #15 on: February 28, 2015, 09:03:53 PM »
Really nice report and I certainly encourage you to try blogging. It's lots of fun. :::cheers:::
Check out my wargaming blog "It always rains in Nuln". Reviews, rants and a robust dose of wargaming and RPG fun guaranteed. ;)

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Offline undivided.capital

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Re: The Battle of Heffengen
« Reply #16 on: March 15, 2015, 09:24:31 PM »
Really appreciated the analysis! Thanks hoodling!
Thanks,

Sam Taylor