The
second game of the Throne of skulls event and its the Ritual vs
Stormcast Eternals with Empire support. My orcs must defend the ritual while the stormcast try to prevent it. Also its a bit of a double report in a way as i have also tagged on game 3 to the bottom of the report as well.
The
Mission
The
Ritual, one force must defend an artefact in their deployment zone
while their opponent must destroy it and stop the ritual. At the
start of each ritualist turn roll a D6 (and add in some modifiers)
and add them up each turn, when they hit 20 the ritualist wins. The
other side can only destroy the artefact with their general, or when
he dies their second in command. This way the defender has two ways
to win, and the attacker only has one.
We roll
to see who get to choose their objective, and I win and select to be
the Ritualist, as it has the most ways to win.
The
Armies
The
Ritualist: Orcs
Grimgor
Ironhide (general)
17 black
orcs – full command
Orc
Bigboss – Waaaagh banner
Savage
Orc shaman
Orc
Warboss on Wyvern
Orc great
shaman
Orc great
shaman
20 Orc
boys – full command
Giant
Doom
diver
Rock
lobber
Orc Bully
The
Disputers: Stormcast Eternals
Thunderstrike
Brotherhood
- Lord-Celestant on Dracoth
- Lord Relictor
- 3 Retributors
- 3 Prosecutors
- 5 Liberators
- 5 Liberators
Lord of
the Storm
- Lord-Celestant
- Lord Relictor
- Lord Castellant
- Knight Heraldor
3
Retributors
5
Judicators
5
Judicators
Master
Engineer
Fire
wizard
Fire
wizard
Wizard
Wizard
Cannon
Cannon
Steam
tank
Steam
tank
3
Demi-griffons
3
Demi-griffons
Deployment
We take
it in turns setting up, with him starting. By the end of deployment I
have two shamans next to the artefact (realm gate for this game) with
the black orcs to the north of it aided by Grimgor, and the boyz to
the south flanked by the Warboss on wyvern. In the centre the giant
holds the wood. Trolls deploy to the north but further forward to
engage the enemy. I place both of the artillery pieces far back next
to the gate. The warboss with banner is in the centre.
His
deployment has most of the thunderstrike brotherhood off table to
begin with. He has his 4 wizards deploy in the centre with the lords
of the storm. The rest of his deployment is rather symmetrical, with
a cannon, unit of demi-griffons, steam tank and unit of Judicators on
each flank. On the southern flank there is a unit of prosecutors from
the thunderstrike brotherhood and in the north the unit of
retributors.
First
turn is the choice of the Disruptor, he hands it over to me.
The
Battle
Turn 1 –
Orcs
Starting
with the ritual I roll a 1... +2 for my shamans so its a
disappointing 3 to start off.
With
little to do yet Grimgor inspires the trolls so they don't make a run
for it. Mystic shield is cast on the trolls, orc boys and wyvern.
The
trolls move closer to the Demi-griffons but every one else stays put.
Shooting
from the artillery targets a steam tank and deals 3 wounds to it.
Stormcast
Turn
All of
his wizards summon a Bale wind vortex, doubling their range of
spells. Then then proceed to cast magic at the stone trolls, killing
2 of the trolls despite their magic resistance.
Movement
and the steam tanks and demi-griffons move towards my lines while
most of the rest holds its ground.
Cannon
fire targets the trolls but thankfully only deals 2 wounds to a
troll. On the other side they target the doom diver and leave it in
splinters after their bombardment.
Turn 2 –
Stormcast take the priority
Again
using their magic from afar, the wizards kill off the injured troll
and 1 more leaving 2 left.
Carrying
on their movement the demi-griffons circle around the trolls and the
other unit gets close to the orc boys.
Continuing
the bombardment cannon fire kills 3 black orcs and about 8 boys.
Battle
shock and a few more boys run away.
Orc turn
For the
ritual I roll a 5, so with my bonuses it goes up to a 6, for a total
of 9 on the ritual, almost half way there.
Hero
phase and grimgor Inspires the black orcs, I can see them taking
another bombardment, and I might not get so lucky again. The shamans
shield the black orcs, orc boys and wyvern.
Flying
from its position behind the wood the wyvern goes straight for the
Demi-griffons and the boys follow suit. Seeing the half chickens run
past them, the trolls give chase after a snack. Holding their line
Grimgor and the Black orcs ready to defend the artefact.
Rock
lobber again targets the steam tank, but misses.
Charges
and the trolls charge the Demi-griffons but the boys and the wyvern
both fail their charge despite only needing about a 5, disappointing.
In combat the trolls deal 2 wounds to the chicken knights and take 2
back.
Turn 3 –
Orcs take back priority
Well this
was a rather handy bit of luck. Again I get a total of 6 for the
ritual, taking me up to 15.
I manage
again to shield the boys and black orcs but fail on the wyvern.
Movement
has the orcs and wyvern get within 3 inches of the Demi-griffons so
they will make the charge! The shaman towards the bottom of the table
moves back to help with the ritual.
Shooting
and the rock lobber fails to do anything, but the trolls vomit on the
demi-griffons causing a single wound.
Combat
and the wyvern and boys make the charge, so the wyvern goes first and
kills a demi-griffon with ease. They strike the boys back and kill 2
. In the top combat the trolls strike next but don't manage much
losing a model for their trouble. Orcs finally strike and take 2
wounds off a demi-grif.
Battle
shock and some how the troll stays! Orcs are also fine.
Stormcast
turn
Magic
from the wizards kills 4 more black orcs.
Movement
phase and the heros from the thunderstrike brotherhood come in as
close as possible to the artefact. A unit of retributors come in near
the trolls as well while the prosecutors set up in the middle of the
table. Needing to move up, the wizards banish the vortexs and move
closer to my lines to disrupt the ritual.
Shooting
from the Dracoth manages to kill 2 black orcs then the cannons shoot
at them, reducing them to just the unit champion.
Combat
phase and he fails all of his charges. The demi-griffons deal a
couple of wounds to the orcs but they some how save them. The trolls
manage to kill a demi-grif with out taking harm then the wyvern kills
off the other uni.
Turn 4 –
Stormcast take back priority... its just a game of double turns at
this point.
Once more
the wizards summon the vortexes then just magic Grimgor to death.
The
Dracoth and friend run towards the artefact and the general gets
close enough to smash it next turn. Slowly moving forwards the steam
tank gets closer to the orcs. Retributors and prosecutors move up as
well.
Shooting
has little effect this turn, it just kills of a shaman.
Combat
and the steam tank charges into the orc boys, the retirubtors charge
into the lone black orc. The troll/chicken fight ends with nothing
happening, the retributors murder the lone black orc and the steam
tank does very little taking 2 wounds for its trouble.
Orc turn
With his
wizards close I'm getting -2 to my rolls and I manage to add 3 to
ritual for a total of 18.
Its
getting desperate, I need to shift the Dracoth, so both shamans
attempt to arcane bolt him but both fail to cast it!
The giant
is still fresh so makes a dash straight towards the Dracoth, he needs
to kill him this turn. Seeing the dire situation the warboss on
wyvern moves back towards the lines trying to help prevent the ritual
getting stopped.
Shooting
from the rock lobber misses the Dracoth.
Combat
and the wyvern makes a long charge onto the prosecutors and the giant
blitz his way straight to the Dracoth! I choose the giant first and
swinging with his club he gets 11 attacks, its looking good, but only
5 manage to wound and he saves all but 2. Then the rest of the giants
attacks miss... damn. He strikes with his prosecutors on the wyvern
but does no damage, so which the wyvern kills off 2 of his men. Not
much happens between the steam tank and orcs.
Now the
most important roll, who gets priority. If I get it I have a 50/50
chance to finish the ritual and possibly kill his general. If he gets
it, on a 2+ he wins.
Priority
goes to the Stormcast.
Hero
phase and he rolls a 2... close but just enough to smash the
artefact. Its a major victory to the Stormcast, but a very close
game.
Post-Battle
That was
a very close game, it could have gone either way at the end, just
coming down to priority. It was very enjoyable but I can't help but
feel that if I had been the attacker I wouldn't have stood a chance
getting though those cannons, he could easily of just killed my
generals and that would have been that. Still as it stands, a very
close game.
One thing
that I noticed when looking around the tables while we played was
people packing all of their infantry around the artefact to protect
it, stopping people from placing their models within the 3 inches to
to destroy it. While this is a sound tactic and one that will work,,
as they need to kill you to a man, I felt it a little unorcy. Having
to slog across the table (well normally) is hard enough and just
didn't sit right with me, plus when the boss isn't looking I felt it
entirely characterful for the orc boys to go looking for a scrap.
Probably not a smart move, but fun none the less.
Game
3: Breakthrough vs Skins
Breakthrough is a mission where once force has to get at least ¼ of
their models off the opponents table edge in order to get a minor
victory. If you get less than this or none its a victory to your
opponent.
The reason I am adding in game 3 to this battle report instead of it
having its own is because I'm a little disappointed with myself about
it. Talking to my opponent he appeared to be relatively new to the
game and his army only consisted of skinks, chameleon skinks, 3
kroxigor, 3 terradons and 2 razordons I think. Anyway talking he had
about 80 models with him, so I said he should use them all as skinks
aren't all that great.
Anyway as we played the game and I selected to be the attacker so I
had to push though his lines and get off the table. However I used my
whole force against him. Which I felt really bad about as taking two
monsters against him was a really crappy thing to do. Anyway here is
a brief report of what happened.
The
Battle
Turn 1
The Seraphon move towards the orcs and make a few pot shots killing 1
or 2 orcs. In return the orc boys charge into the skinks on the
right. The monsters just bypass the enemy and move straight for the
opposite side of a table.
Turn 2
The trolls charge into a unit of skins and kill most of them, and the
rest run for it. Kroxigor charge in to aid the skinks on the right
but do very little to the orcs.
Turn 3
Terradons and chameleon skinks appear. The chameleons shoot at the
rock lobber crew killing them. The terradons charge the trolls and
get killed by them pretty quick. Some how the orcs start doing damage
to the kroxigors. The black orcs charge into the razordons and kill
them with ease.
Turn 4
I start making a break for the enemy line while the orcs some how
kill the kroxigors. However the skins keep the orcs locked in combat.
Turn 5
Some of my units get off the table, but not the black orcs.
Game ends: Minor victory to the Skinks
Now I feel really bad about this game because I should have altered
my army so it was a fair game, even though I just made the monsters
avoid combat I feel bad about this. But by doing this I feel that I
didn't play properly and cheated the guy out of a proper game. I also
made myself look like a fool by not playing properly and just messing
up the game. I just hope that the guy enjoyed the game if nothing
else.
Anyway next week game 4, vs the Seraphon.
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