VCL: Group 2 Match 1: Cakeman vs Arklite

[gingerninja]

Map: Dwarven Gates
Top Deployment: Cakeman
First Turn: Arklite

Cakeman's List:

Characters:
Beastlord Droketh: 300
Mark of Tzeentch - level 4 wizard
Chaos armour
Horn of the great hunt
Staff of darkoth

Bray shaman Gothor: 131
level 2
braystaff
dispel scroll

Bray shaman Dolkshar: 131
level 2
braystaff
dispel scroll

Core:
Beastherd: 147
14 gor, 6 ungor
Foerender, Musician

Beastherd: 140
13 gor, 6 ungor
Foerender, Musician

Beastherd: 140
13 gor, 6 ungor
Foerender, Musician

5 warhounds

5 warhounds

5 warhounds

5 warhounds

tuskgor chariot

tuskgor chariot

tuskgor chariot

special:
4 minotaurs: 224
mark of tzeentch
great weapons
standard bearer

4 minataurs: 224
mark of tzeentch
great weapons
standard bearer

Rare:
Dragon ogre Shaggoth - 306
great weapon, light armour

chaos spawn

chaos spawn

Total: 2248


Arklites List and Tactics:

Rune lord
Anvil of doom
shield
Rune of stone
Rune of the furnace
Rune of resistance
Master rune of balance
2X rune of spell breaking
453 points

Thane
Battle standard
Master rune of gromril
Rune of striking
125 points

Thane
Master rune of swiftness
Rune of cleaving
Rune of fury
Rune of stone
Shield
142 points

Core

Dwarf warriors [20]
Full command
Shields
205 points

Long beards [19]
Full command
Shields
Master rune of grungi
303 points

Quarrellers [10]
musican
shields
125 points

Special

Iron breakers [19]
Full command
Rune of stoicism
2 Ancestor Runes
332 points

Bolt thrower
Rune of penetrating
Engineer
85 points

Bolt thrower
Rune of penetrating
Rune of burning
Engineer
90 points

Stone thrower
Rune of penetrating
Rune of accuracy
130 points

Organ gun

Gyrocopter

so the cakeman and his brutish horde comes to face the might of the dwarves? and on my own turf? have at thee i say! prepare to taste dwarven steel as you try to break my mighty stronghold and prepare to be smashed against my shields!

right, lets look at our here battling pitch. a wide open plan and a hill for me to place my firepower, couldn't have it better really. looking at my opponents list i can see that his plan is to hit me hard and to hit me fast with some solid magic support. sad to say, but i seem to have the ideal force to deal with these mutant spawn of chaos and intend to give them a right kicking ^_^

now, lets take a proper look at my opponents gubbins. 12 powerdice, 3 chariots, 2 large units of minotaurs and a shaggoth with some beastmen looking to ambush me as well. a nice offense to say the least. in responce however i sport 8 dispel dice, i reduce my opponents dice to 11 thanks to my master rune of balance and i sport dwarven troops, the finest in the old world and not likley to break! not like those girly elves.

deployment then, well its clear that i'll be on the defensive in this battle what with being out speeded and all that. so i'll go for a good ol' classic
castle formation. the hill is too good of a strong point not to exploit, even with the prospect of beastmen ambushing. as such ill place my anvil of doom, my stone thrower, one of my two bolt throwers and my quarrellers on the hill. on the ground i'll place my battle line with my ironbreakers on my inside flank and my warriors on the outside. the longbeards will look to hold the centre allowing them to shield my troops with a 5+ wardsave against any magic missiles the beastmen might care to throw at me, re-rolls against panic tests and re-rolls against break tests. combine this with my high leadership, toughness and armour and by gungi we've got more protection than a girly elf has pink high heels.

next to the warriors i would look to place my organ gun and next to it i would place my bolt thrower. this outside position will give me a chance at some flank shots on those minotaurs should they move forward too quickly and the organ gun is quite simply the ultimate flank defence weapon. my gyrocopter will position its self at the far right of the table, its job will be to quickly make its way behind the beastmen lines and begin attacking them with its "breath weapon" attack and cause mass march blocking, hopefully crippling my foes ability to close quickly.

early shooting targets will be the chariots. using my S7 bolt throwers i would hope to cause panic tests for units destroyed by smashing the chariots from afar, the low beastmen leadership should surely suffer from this action as well as give me a distinct advantage when it comes to combat. the stone thrower feels a little left out in this battle i must admit. there are no huge rank blocks for it to rain down on so it'll be monster hunting today using its S10 at the centre of the template and D6 wounds per hit to fell that mighty shaggoth.

the main threat from the beastmen army seems to be posed by the minotaur units, their multple high strength attacks could admittedly cause some serious pain. as such my anvil of doom will prioritise its attacks on one of the two units (whichever seems more dangerous at the time) and with the gyrocopter reduce them to a pathetic pace (their movement halved by the anvil and then halved again by the gyro march blocking).

by breaking up the beastmen advance i should be able to deal with and eliminate their forces as they arrive peicemeal.

as for the ambush the quarreller unit will be acting as warmachine guards, easily a match for beastmen in a straight fight i reckon they will be able to keep my artillery alive long enough to enact my battle plan. with my flanks secured by the terrain and my own artillery the beastmen iwill be forced to come at me head on and face the wrath of my bearded barrier

[avatar of khaine]

i think... this goes to arklite

[ArtificiallyEnhanced]

As much as I dislike dwarfs, I have to say that they have this one pretty much sewn up. Dwarven martial prowess will win out. Arklite

[GrandDukeJerot]

Arklite wins, he has enough range with the 2 bolt throwers, stone thrower, and organ gun to do some massive damage before the beast herds clash with his elite infantry.

[paul_Harkonen]

Arklite takes this fairly easily I think. His artillery thins out the herd and the dwarves go to work on what's left once the herd finally hits the dwarf lines.

[daelrog]

I have to agree with eveyone else. Arklite has this one. The beastmen are going to hit a steel wall of beards after being tor apart by shooting. Only way I see it going for the beasts is if they manage a simultaneous charge with all the minotaurs, spawn, and the shaggoth.

Arklite won't let that happen.

[Brave Sir Robin]

I think Arklite has this one in the bag, his dwarves are a solid list and Cakeman hasn't posted tactics, so I don't know how he would counter it.

[DavidWC09]

I like Cakeman's list a lot, but the terrain heavily favors arklite's army. That impassable left edge mucks up one ambushing force. Arklite has a solid plan for the minotaurs. Cake's magic, minos, chariots, and shaggoth will still hurt. Of course, the chariots could go down early to bolts, so it'll be an uphill battle for cakeman (no pun intended, though appreciated).

Arklite wins this one.

[no1cafc]

Arklite since I think the beasts will just bounce of the dwarves.

[ArchonFarseerGuy]

i think... this goes to arklite

You need to provide reasons. For all we know, you could have flipped a coin, or are just voting based on who's on your friends list.

To my vote, I really can't see the survivors of the dwarf fusillade breaking the little stunties in combat. To be honest, this match reminds me of this one ^_^. The main difference being that Arky is now on the other foot. The big things get shot at, the minotaurs get anvilled and gyro'd, and everything else bounces off the high T, Ld, and saving troops. I can't see Arklite losing this one.