Night Goblins vs Ogres 2k: Avalanche of muscle

I finally get to use my 2k Night Goblins list and its against the forces of the Ogre kingdoms. The game is Meeting engagement, so a few of our units might not make it to the battle on time. As long as its none of my hard hitting units, I should be ok. If I get lucky most of the ogres will sleep in.

The Armies

Night Goblins

Night Goblin Warboss – 116 (General)

Great weapon, armour of fortune, iron curse icon

Night Goblins Great Shaman – 175

Lvl 4 (sneaky stabbin, gift of the spider god,

Night Goblin Big boss – 39

Great Weapon, dragon bane gem

Night Goblin Big boss – 88

light armour, shield, great cave squig, great weapon, dragonhelm

Night Goblin shaman – 110

lvl 2, dispel scroll

50 Night Goblins – 250

full command, nets, fanatic

40 Night Goblins – 210

standard, musician, nets, fanatic

40 Night Goblins – 120

musician, bows

Squig herd – 218

22 squigs, 14 herders

6 Common trolls – 210

Squig Gobba – 120

Mangler squig – 65

Rock lobba – 85

Doom Diver – 80

Ogre Kingdoms

Tyrant – (general)

Gut Maw, kineater, 5+ ward

Butcher

lvl 2, hellheart

11 Ogres

full command

7 Iron guts

full command

Sabertusk

Sabertusk

4 Mournfang

full command, heavy armour

Stonehorn

Iron Blaster

The Mission

Rolling for the mission, we get Meeting Engagement. So we set up the terrain and roll for deployment zones which the ogres select. Then we see which units won't have been delayed and have to start in reserve. For the ogres its just his Ironblaster. The night goblins however have the squig herd, big boss on squig and the squig gobba delayed. As we gobba can't move, so we talk about it and decide when its comes on, it just gets placed in base contact with the table and that will do for it.

Next rolling for who deploys first, in this mission its not alternative, its deploying your whole force in one go. The ogres win and decide to deploy first to most likely go first.

The goblins deployment had the trolls on the left, with the smaller unit of night goblins with big boss supporting them facing the ogres and mournfangs. The larger unit is in the centre with the general and bsb, and then the bows with great shaman are on their right flank between them and a building. I place the mangler squig behind them as I will need that alive to do some damage, so I can't have it running around to get killed by a cannon ball or a sabertusk sitting on it. All my artillery goes on the hill at the back of my deployment.

There is a small chance I can steal first turn and I roll a 6! I get first turn.

The Battle

Night goblins turn 1

I pass all animosity for my army, and no charges to declare. In from reserve come the squigs behind my lines ready to fill any lines that appear in my force. The gobba comes onto the hill and gets staked down, and finally the boss on squig comes in on the left behind the woods and move up to the flank of the mournfang cavalry. Both units of night goblins move up a little, just enough to hopefully be out of charge range, and the mangler squig moves behind my lines.

Magic phase and its 6 power vs 3 dispel. I attempt to cast vindictive gaze on a sabertusk but he stops it. I manage to get though itchy nuisance on the mournfang reducing their initiative and movement by 1. Then I get gift of the spider god on the smaller unit of night goblins.

The artillery fires, rock lobber on the iron guts and it scatters and only clips the unit, and they take 1 wound. Screaming with laughter, the doom diver smashes into the mournfang and it deals 2 wounds to them.

Ogres turn 1

Measuring the distance, the mournfang are possibly in range of the night goblins so he declares a charge. But after the dice are rolled they are an inch short (thank you itchy nucence). Both of the sabertusks move forward and bring out the fanatics, on the left the fanatic smashes into it and deals 4 hits, but I roll 1s and 2s keeping it alive. On the left side the fanatic goes towards the ogres leaving the sabertusk alive and well. Not wanting to charge though fanatics next turn the ogres and iron guts reposition for a move favourable charge next turn.

Magic phase and the Butcher casts Brain Gobbla on the generals unit, casting it with irresistible force. Thankfully the goblins pass their panic test and the butcher gets reduced to a lvl 1 wizard.

Firing the ironblaster fires at the bsb and it bounces off killing 5 goblins and 1 troll. The bigboss survives as another goblin takes a chance at assassinating him, but takes a cannon ball to the face instead.

Night goblins turn 2

The goblins on the left fail animosity and have to charge or squabble, so I attempt to charge the lone sabertusk in front of them and fails. The bigboss on squig charges into the flank of the mournfang cavalry, if they can hold them up for a turn (I doubt it) I could be useful. I have to move the mangler squig so I send it though the bow goblins killing 10 and it hits the sabretusk, killing it and ends right in front of the ironguts, worth the sacrifice. The fanatic in the middle hits the iron guts dealing 1 wound then goes into a tree and dies. The other doesn't hit anything.

Just as my goblins are about to cast magic the butcher eats his hellheart, and causes both to have a backlash, killing off the lvl 2 and reducing the lvl 4 to 1 wound. I lose all of my power dice as well.

The doom diver fires at the ironguts, and I manage to deal a single wound. Attempting to lob a rock, the goblins do something wrong, and a part of it collapses, meaning it has to be repaired quickly before it can be fired again. Unfortunately for me nothing is in range of the squig gobba.

Combat and the bigboss manages to deal a single wound to the mournfang and takes 2 in return. He runs for it, while the mournfang reform. The goblins kill off the cat and overrun into the ogres.

Ogres turn 2

Like an avalanche, the stonehorn charge into the night goblins with bows and the mournfang charge into the trolls. Now with a mangler squig in front of them, again the ironguts reposition not wanting to get mauled by the squigs. Slowly getting pulled by its rhynox, the ironblaster moves closer to the goblins.

Using 6 power dice the butcher attempts to give all units in 12 +1 strength but my great shamn stops him.

Needing to remove the mangler squig the iron blaster targets it, hits but only takes off 2 wounds, leaving a single wound left.

Stonehorn vs the night goblins, and 8 die to the impact hits, and 5 more to the ogre and thunder stomp, the night goblins did no damage to the monster. Steadfast, the goblins hold. Ogres vs night goblins and the ogres are caught in their nets. Stabbing first the goblins deal 1 wound to the ogres and another to the butcher. Unfortunately the ogres attack back and kill off 7 goblins, but I hold. Mournfangs charge into the trolls and get 4 wounds past regeneration (I stopped about 7) killing a troll. The rest attack back by vomiting, as just hitting them wont get past the 2+ armour save. I cause 2 wounds and lose the combat, as the trolls attempt to run they get cut down. In a stroke of luck, the mournfang move though the woods and take a wound to dangerous terrain, losing the wounded model.

Night goblins turn 3

Animosity this turn is only from the squig herd who just refuse to move. No charges this turn either, I need to get ready for next ogre turn. The final fanatic scatters into the ogre unit (deals 2 wounds, killing a model) and then goes into the woods and dies. Hopping about, the mangler hits the stonehorn dealing 4 wounds to it, and passes though the generals unit killing 5. the bigboss on squig rallies.

Magic phase and I cast both gift of the spider god on the bow goblins and gork'll fix it on the large ogre unit.

Shooting phase still the rock lobber cant fire this turn. The doom diver misfires but can still shoot next turn and the squig gobba just stores its dice till next turn.

Thanks to the gifts of the spider god the night goblins with bows kill off the stonehorn with ease, rolling mostly 6's to hit, poisoning it to death. The large combat between goblins and ogres, I do 0 wounds and thanks to the hex the ogres only cause 3 wounds. I only lose combat by 2, but even with steadfast and a bsb the goblins run for it and the gores overrun straight into my generals unit.

Ogres turn 3

With the stonehorn dead the ironguts charge into the bow goblins and take 2 wounds from the stand and shoot reaction, killing a model. The mournfangs reform.

Magic and its 6 vs 3, and again the butcher irresistibly casts his spell, taking a wound but gives all units in 12 +1 strength.

Firing its cannon at the rock lobber, the iron blaster starts to take apart my artillery.

Combat and things get interesting. The ironguts take 2 more wounds kill off an injured ogre then kill off every last goblin, over running but not enough to hit the squigs. On the other side of the table, the night goblins net the ogres, thanks to the boss and general with great weapon I cause 5 wounds, but still I lose 13 models, but I hold.

Night goblins turn 4

With the ironguts right in front of them, it would be rude for the squigs not to charge them, so they do. The mangler goes though my generals unit killing 6 of them but also hurts the big ogre unit dealing 5 wounds! The big boss carries on bouncing towards the ogres.

Magic phase and I attempt to cast gift of the spider god on the night goblin unit left, but it gets dispelled, I use the rest of my dice to cast gork'll fix it again on the ogre unit.

Filling the squig gobba with as many squigs as they can find, the goblins point it at the mournfang cavalry. It spits out 18 hits but unfortunatly only 1 wound gets past their armour. The doom diver scatters too far and can't reposition itself.

Combat starts with the squigs striking first against the iron guts, their ws 4 and strength 5 helps a lot and I deal 8 wounds killing off 3 ogres. Striking back the tyrant misses almost all of his attacks and I only lose 5 models! I win combat by 6 and he runs, getting cut down. The other combat and again the nets are cast on the ogres. I take 6 wounds and the bsb takes a wound as well, again great weapons take their toll causing 4 wounds on the ogres. At the end of it all combat is a draw.

Ogres turn 4

The mournfang charge the rear of my night goblins, sealing their fate.

This time I stop the casting from the butcher! No strength bonus for the ogres.

Again the ironblaster attempts to kill off the mangler squig, but in their haste, add too much black power and crack the cannon, reducing it to just an ogre riding a chariot pulled by a rhino... so its still damn scary.

In the combat unsurprisingly I lose ALOT of goblins. I net the ogre unit but the mournfang unit deal stupid damage and I run for it, the ogres cut them down and the mournfang reform.

Night goblins turn 5

The bigboss on squig smashes into the flank of the ogre unit, and the squig herd move towards the cannon, as they can't quite make the charge, they will just have to accept the charge from the chariot next.

This turn the doom diver hits! But only does 1 wound to the mournfang cavalry.

In combat the bigboss issues a challenge, the unit champion accepts and takes a single wound from the squig, then kills the boss. This was a mistake as they then reform to face the squigs.

Ogres turn 5

Both the ogre unit and ironblaster charge into the squig herd, and the mournfang move to get ready to charge the artillery next turn.

Before the beatings come, the squigs manage to reduce the ironblaster to a single wound and deal 1 to an ogre. The ogres kill off almost all of the night goblins and very few squigs are left. The goblins run causing the herd to go wild. Squigs running amok kills off the ironblaster and deals a few wounds to the ogres.

Night goblisn turn 6

Artillery all fires at the mournfangs and does nothing to them... damn.

Ogres turn 6

To finish me off the mournfang charge into the doom diver and the ogres charge into the squig gobba.

Mournfang vs the doom diver crew... I don't need to tell you how that ended. The goblins were just past on the floor and the mournfang overrun into the squig. Surprisingly though the squig gobba attacks first, and rolls 15 attacks. It does so much damage it amazed me, only the butcher. Unfortunately the mournfang then just kill off squig though.

End of the game, and we don't add up the points, its just a win to the ogres.

He killed my whole army + bonus points from general, bsb, a few flags and a champion killed a hero in a challenge. I only killed his general and most of his army.

Post-Battle

That was a brilliant game, I loved every second of it. For a little bit I though that I could have had him, if only my goblins held their ground. But its goblins... you cant expect that. The mission was an interesting twist, causing me to have the squigs off table at the beginning was a challenge as once they got into combat they really did do a lot of damage. I knew ogres hit like a train, but thank god for nets, as they really helped reduce the damage. A few observations from the game:

• Nets: These buggers kept me in the fight, allowing me to actually have a change in combat. I'm sure you are all away of this, but I still want to state that now.
• Squigs: Ws 4 is amazing and strength 5 is even more. I never though these guys would do so much damage when they hit but they really smashed the Ironguts to bits. Next time I want to see how they do against a normal infantry squad.
• Squig gobba: A very odd model, but beautiful and I will defiantly be using it again. While it didn't do too much damage it has the potential against other armies which aren't T4.

For the list I was thinking about tweaking it a little, but im going to test the list out again before I make anything for definite.

• Boss on squig: giving him a great weapon and dragonhelm is ok, but I don't know if its worth it as he will probably get killed off before he attacks. Maybe just give him a spear? Not sure, what do you guys think?
• Shamans: The lvl 4 is great for defence but with the mushroom dice a lvl 2 can get a massive bonus and potentially get an addition +6 for free, so maybe if I just take 2 lvl 2 shamans instead of a lvl 4. It will give me more wounds and I can spread them around my army.