[King Ulrik Flamebeard]

Round 3

Scenario: Blood And Glory
Map: ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
Top Deployment: Non Marine Player
First Turn: Polaria

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Player: Polaria
List:
Spells:
lv4 -2, 2, 3, 6
l2 - 1, 4
l2 - 5, 6
l1 - 1

SomethingWicked... (3000 points)

Lord – 478points
General ”Skullhorn” Beastlord,Armour of Silvered Steel,
Talisman of Preservation, Additional Hand Weapon 243points

Great Bray Shaman “Skull-Gave” – Lore of Death; Lvl 4 294points
Pelt of Shadowgave, Jagged Dagger,Additional Hand Weapon

Heroes - 589 points
Wargor “Stronghoof” Battle Standard Bearer, Gnarled Hide, 204 points
Heavy Armor (3+ armor), Beast Banner

Bray Shaman “One-Eye” – Lore of Shadows; lvl 2, Shard of Herdstone 160 points

Bray Shaman “Devilhoof” – Lore of Shadows, lvl 2, Chalice of Dark Rain 150points

Bray Shaman “Ramsmight” – Lore of Shadows 75 points

Core - 746 points
Gor Herd “Stomping Stags” 401points
• 47 Gors , Full Command, Additional Hand Weapons

Ungor RaiderHerd 30points
• 5 Ungor Raiders

UngorRaider Herd 30points
• 5 Ungor Raiders

Ungor Herd ”Black Band” 285 points
• 54 Ungor , Full Command

Special - 678 points
Bestigor Herd “Headtakers” 568 points
• 44 Bestigors, Full Command , Banner of Eternal Flame
Razorgor 55points
Razorgor 55points
Rare - 450points
”Jolly Blue” Giant 225points

”Gentle Blue” Giant 225points

ARMY TOTAL: 3,000 points

Deployment and Tactics

Deployment & Tactics

Deployment: The big wizard Skull-gave will have Spirit Leech, The Caress of Laniph, Soulblight and The Purple Sun of Xereus. The shadow ones will go with The Pit of Shades, The Pendumbral Pendulum, Okkam’s Mindrazor and changing others for Miasmas. Skullhorn and one lvl 1 will go with Headtakers. Devilhoof (BSB) and second lvl 2 with Stomping Stags and Skull-Gave with Black Band. Lvl 2’s will go with tow Raider herds. Herdstone will be on the left flank, near the building with Raiders nearby. Big blocks will be on the center. Giants and Razorgor will on the right flank, on other side of the river.

Tactics: With Blood and Glory both armies break at 3 points and my opponent only has 4 points to begin with (2 from zombie banners and 2 from general), while I have 6 (3 from banners, 1 from BSB and 2 from general). Thus, I can afford to lose much more without breaking, while he only has to lose one zombie block, or the general, and the game is over at that moment. Thus, I will base my tactics purely around that, paying less attention to point values than normally.

On first turn Raiders (and wizards) will occupy the buildings near herdstone and everything else will start straight towards the enemy army. Wizards will use Miasma to slow his units (dropping M and I) and target the zombie blocks with Pit of Shades and Purple Sun. I only need to kill one measly block of zombies to win the game and with luck I could actually do it before even charging them. When the armies get closer to each other, the Black Band (boosted with Occam’s Mind Razor), Razorgors and Giants will take anything big and bad since I can afford to lose them easier. Bestigors and Gors go straight for the win, targeting the zombie units and taking one of them down for instant win.

My opponent has a lot of chaff to throw at me, some of which is actually quite tough, but I trust in my big blocks being able to keep their banners (and VPs) safe as the chaff can’t take away ranks. If need be I can always slow down the chaff by chipping their M away with Miasmas.

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Player: Non Marine Player
List:
Spells:
lvl4 - 2, 3, 4, 6
lvl4 - 2, 5, 6, 6
lv2 - 6, 6
lvl2 - 1, 5
lvl 1 - 3

The Filth-Ridden Coven

Lords: 550
Coldar Krieg, Master Necromancer - Level 4, Arabyan Carpet - 250 (Death)
Manndred Volmar, Master Necromancer - Level 4, Talisman of Preservation, Black Periapt - 300 (Vampires, General)

Heroes: 490
Ludwig Von Battenhoff, Vampire - Level 2, Forbidden Lore (Beasts), Sword of Swift Slaying, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour - 199
Trastig Von BattenhoffVampire - Level 2, Forbidden Lore (Light), Sword of Might, Heavy Armour, Shield, Dragonhelm - 201
Jurgen Reigeson, Necromancer - Dispel Scroll - 90 (Vampires)

Core: 750
40 Ghouls - Ghast - 410
40 Zombies - Standard, Musician - 130
40 Zombies - Standard, Musician - 130
5 Dire Wolves - 40
5 Dire Wolves - 40

Special: 756
6 Vargheists - 276
6 Vargheists - 276
2 Fell Bats - 32
2 Fell Bats - 32
2 Bat Swarms - 70
2 Bat Swarms - 70

Rare: 450
Terrorgheist - 225
Terrorgheist - 225

Deployment and Tactics:

Spells Confirmed:
Level 4 Death - Spirit Leech, Soulblight, Doom and Darkness, Purple Sun
Level 4 Vampires - Invocation of Nehek, Vanhel's Dance Macabre, Hellish Vigour, Curse of Years
Level 2 Beasts - Wyssan's Wildform, Curse of Anraheir
Level 2 Light - Pha's Protection, Banishment
Level 1 Vampires - Gaze of Nagash

I clearly have the disadvantage here in terms of Fortitude. In fact, I didn't notice that if I lose a single Banner I lose, otherwise I would've changed my list. But no matter, it's not impossible. On a positive note all of the offensive elements of my force cannot give away Fortitude, and I will have enough chaff to pick and choose my fights.

Deployment:
Characters - Vampires in Ghouls, General in Zombies, Level 1 Necro in other.
Unit of Zombies with Level 1 Necro will deploy behind building with river to it's right, providing cover from charges and a building in which to hide should I need it.
Ghoul Horde deployed centrally between watchtower and Sigmarite Shrine. These guys will have to be doing my heavy lifting, getting buffed and wading through to grab banners.
Each Vargheist unit will be deployed opposite a Giant, on Mathhammer averages, these guys cause 7 wounds to one before it gets to strike, so I can deal with these and then work on flank charging to extract Fortitude.
Terrorgheists deploy so that they can scream down Pumbas and then support Ghouls/protect Zombie units/scream at Bestigors.
Fell Bats to deploy adjacent to Herdstone, so they can work on ending the PD advantage, and then they can charge block, Dire Wolves to that from the start.
General's Zombie unit to deploy behind ghouls, as will flying Necromancer, who will fly about to hex units in combat with ghouls (Hopefully D&D will confirm breaks even on steadfast units) and throw out Purple Sun.
Bat Swarms are to engage Gors when Ghouls do, to cut down their retaliating attacks.

Whilst he has PD dominance, I can get through some spells of my own in my own magic phase. Multiple buffs may not be possible, however Doom and Darkness will be very important for all combats, nerfing Ld for Primal Fury, Fear, Death Shrieks and, if the combat goes my way, break tests. Vargheists can engage Ungor horde if necessary. Terrorgheists shall be screaming into combats or at Bestigors should there be none. Work through the easier to extract Fortitude first if possible. General will increase unit size/replace casualties when I have the dice to do so. Priority is causing damage to the hordes so they are easier to break/scream to death. The multiple -1 to hit spells I rolled will also come in use, whether Fear tests are failed or not.

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Please vote for which list you believe will do the best. Explanations are not required, but are a good idea. The two owners of the list are not allowed to post in their own battle. Please put all voting in either BOLD or UNDERLINE


Good luck!


Kuffy

 

[kroxigor01]

This is a hard match to call.

The Vampires can lose on a single dice roll. The general is the one casting the buffing spells central to Non Marine Player's strategy. Any miscast has a 1/12 chance of finishing the battle. He also only has I3 and is deployed 'behind the ghouls'. I hope he is further than 5" behind them or he can be sniped at any moment by a leapfrogging Purple Sun and die on a 4+ (worse if Miasma is on).

There is no room to move more than 40 model unit through that village. Also, the river is DEADLY to the beast blocks. If 1 model of the unit is in it they lose steadfast and rank bonus and all of a suddenly a charge from Terrorgheist or Vargheist destroys them.

Here is how I think this battle will go:

The Vampire heavy flyers will dominate everywhere but the 'corridor' up the middle of the board. By turn 3 all the Beast monsters are dead but I don't think the heavy flyers can do much else except whittle away with screaming and blocking charges.

The Beastmen pick 1 block to advance up the corridor and face the ghouls. The Beastigors are a non option as the Vampires with the Dragonhelm would be godlike against them. I would pick the Core Gors and put the General and BSB in them.

As soon as the Vampires see what is up they would redeploy to be 5 wide and get their own characters out of the ghouls. Once combat is reached (turn 3 with good sacrificing fell bats) it takes about 3 phases to be resolved in the Beastmens favour.

More redirecting ensues. On turn 6 the Beastmen finally get to attack the Zombies in melee, but it is to late. Neither side will loose fortitude.

Minimum victory points -

Beasts - Ghouls, 2 Fellbats - 474
Vampires - Giants and Razorgors 660

More points can be gained (notably from character sniping) but I think the Vampires actually have the edge in this regard (the wizard building is very vulnerable indeed). Potentially 3 turns of Doom and Darkness double screaming could even see the Bestigors weak enough to give up points (after bailing characters) late in the game.

 

[NecroNid]

I think the terrain dooms the Beasts in this game. The buildings limit movement so the Beasts will not be able to bring the full fury of their combat to bear on the Vampires. The river(as noted above) is terrible for the Beasts right in the middle of the board. With the way the Vampires are deployed I don't see the Beasts being able to get to the zombies to take a banner. This means the Beasts will have to rely on magic to either take out a zombie block or take out the General. Either way I think that the Beasts will have to hope for IF because the Vamps will hold dice to counter the killer spell. If it goes to VP's(which I think it will) then the Vamps have better options for grabbing more VP's by killing off the chaff and other manageable pieces. As much as I hate to vote against one of my favorite armies I think that this game goes to The Filth Ridden Coven.

 

[Karl Stahlfeld]

I'm giving it to the Something Wicked list since all it takes is a bad miscast and the game is over. In addition, those spells can also deal with the general and end the game then and there. With miasma he can slow down the baddies from VC long enough to manage to win.

 

[kroxigor01]

With miasma he can slow down the baddies from VC

You other points are good, but miasma doesn't slow flyers.

 

[CaptainSarathai]

Tough call. I'm not stupid enough to think that when he realizes that the Vamp has him bottled into fighting the Ghouls, he won't put most of his efforts towards blowing them away. I had to double check his list when he said that the Razorgors were going on the right flank, because that's where the L1 and his Zombies are hiding. However, NMP already has plans for taking down the Giants, as well as the Razorgors, and they're on 1:1 for targets. That right flank is gone, I'm sorry.

From there, it's going to be a matter of cutting through the Ghouls. Meanwhile, with a block fighting the Ghouls, the rest of Polaria's army is going to be stuck trying to get around the buildings to get to the Zombies in the back, and NMP's flyers are going to have a Fortitude-free field day with them. He could suicide-charge everything into a few of those blocks and cut them down for Fortitude, but I still don't think he's going to break them.

But
Polaria has magic dominance, and he already plans on throwing every spell he's got at the Zombies. At the end of the day, NMP is hinging his entire plan on 2 things happening. Firstly, the Ghouls holding, because if they fold, he's got nothing left to take the hits. Secondly, on keeping those Zombies numbers up. He's burning the magic candle at both ends on that, hexing and auging the Ghoul fight, and bringing back Zombies. Like Krox pointed out - the more he throws, the better the chance of something catastrophic happening. Having all of your eggs in one basket is a bad way to play Blood and Glory - when all it takes is 1 unit hitting the dirt, you're hanging by a thread indeed.
Polaria on the other hand has his Fortitude spread over a wide area, even killing his general won't win the game outright. His plan is more stable, he can afford to take losses, make mistakes, fluff rolls. He can force it to come down to victory points. The rest of NMPs regiments are going to be unsupported. If Polaria faces and fights them, I think he might be able to start popping them by the end of the battle.

Something Wicked takes the round.

 

[Karl Stahlfeld]

You other points are good, but miasma doesn't slow flyers.

thanks for catching that! my bad. Even then I'm staying with my choice, partly because of what Capt said

 

[nigelboyette]

something wicked!

 

[Miko de Adamyetz]

I'm going with Something Wicked, although it's a really close call. I'm just thinking that one bad roll for Vamps is more probable than a few bad rolls for Beasts, and bad rolls happen.