Charity Tournament 2012

Last week, the wargamers of eastern Austria gathered in a charity tournament to collect as much money as possible for supporting an institution which makes researches in cancer, especially for children (the St. Anna Children’s Hospital à http://www.stanna.at/).

The event contained more than Warhammer, Warmaster, Warmachine and 40k was also played. We were able to play in the rooms of the tin miniature museum (http://www.zinnfigurenwelt-katzelsdorf.at/), a place where some players of the area play regularly.

Due to the character (and the purpose) of the event, it was clear that it should be a less competitive sort of tournament, where the goal would not be to overrule and smash the enemy. Thanks to the organisators and the players, the tournament was very funny and enjoyable. For gathering more players than in usual tournaments, two players would face each other in every battle. So, for the first time, “team austrohammer” would enter the battlefields of Lower Austria.

Preparations

Due to the fact that I wasn’t able to field my dream list of ten Mournfangs, I decided to field my old, beloved Dwarves. Thanks to the very unrestrictive Army Choice, I was able to bring a very tough artillery with me, which would have been banned in most other tournaments.

The Army Lists

Runesmith, General, Shield
+ 1 x Rune of Stone, 2 x Rune of Spellbreaking
– – – > 127 Points

25 Quarrellers, Great Weapons, Musician, Standardbearer
– – – > 340 Points

30 Dwarf Warriors, Great Weapons, Musician, Standardbearer
– – – > 315 Points

Cannon
+ 1 x Rune of Reloading, 1 x Rune of Burning
– – – > 105 Points

Grudge Thrower
+ 1 x Rune of Accuracy, 2 x Rune of Penetrating
– – – > 155 Points

20 Hammerers, Musician, Standardbearer
– – – > 258 Points

As you can see, the purpose of my half of our army was to shoot everything coming to near. The cannon and the Thrower would be essential to deal with anything our melee units would be too weak to do so. The Quarrellers were simply there to field a second core unit, and I would have preferred a bigger unit of Hammerers. But sadly, due to the Army Restrictions, they were as big as possible.

My partner, a High Elf player, would provide us with the very important melee power (with his White Lions) and a good support in the form of an Eagle and light cavalry.

1 Noble 143.0
Armour of Caledor; Guardian Phoenix; Great Weapon

1 Mage 155.0
Magic Level 2; High Magic; Staff of Solidity

20 Archers 225.0
Musician

19 Spear Elves 196.0
FCG

19 White Lions 335.0
FCG; Standard of Discipline; Ironcurse Icon

5 Ellyrian Reavers 95.0
Bow

1 Repeater Bolt Thrower 100.0

1 Great Eagle 50.0

Game One

The first game and we faced two players I have never played against before. We would have to fight an alliance between High Elves and Bretonnians (could anyone guess a fluff for THIS match-up???). Well, they fielded the obvious strength-five-catapult (if I hadn’t used the same Warmachine, just with the possibility to reroll the artillery dice, I would complain a lot about this piece of artillery…), some knights (flying and mounted) and the obvious White Lions. It promised to be a tough and interesting battle.

Both sides decided to place their armies on the same side of the battlefield. So there would be a tough melee in the middle of the table. I hoped to shoot the bretonnian Thrower with the first or second shot of my cannon. Our opponents started the game with placing the flying Pegasi knights before their battle line, perfect for a charge of my Hammerers. I wondered why they gave us the opportunity of charging their Pegasi knights, but nevertheless, we took the chance and charged with Hammerers and White Lions (on the knights). Meanwhile, both sides laid strength-five-templates at the opponent’s units and reduced them to mere rubble.

The Hammerers broke through the Pegasi knights (obviously), but the White Lions gut stuck in the knights and had to be supported by the Dwarf Warriors. Sadly, we were not able to break the unit. The last member of bretonnian chivalry stood with a double-one on his motivation test. So we didn’t get any points for the melee in the middle of the battlefield. The left flank proofed to be a much tougher place for our eagle and light cavalry than expected. We had hoped to get their artillery by outflanking them with our fast units. But the archers were able to protect their artillery against such attempts.

At the end, we parted with a result of 2:2, which was a little bitter for us, for we had expected a far better outcome due to the heavy losses our opponents had to endure. But anyhow, it was a nice game and well fought.

 

We even had the possibility to purchase ‘some’ 40k-stuff:

Game Two

Having plundered the grill station, we were ready to face our next opponents. I was surprised that we had to fight one of the highest rated teams at this event, an alliance between Wood Elves and Dwarves (again, I would really like to read a proper and fitting explanation for such a battle) fielded by Martin, a local legend and member of the team which has won the silver medal at the ETC (Dwarves) and Meni, a regular tournament winner (Wood Elves). I was very happy about the Burning Rune on my cannon, for we would need it very badly against the obvious treeman. Sadly, this battle saw a very interesting formula:

Grudge Thrower & Cannon < Cannon

Our artillery proofed to be incompetent (mishits and disability to wound) and was taken out of battle by counterfire. Meanwhile, our melee units were unable to deal with the treeman and the Dryads. We tried to save at least one corner of the battlefield (we played a scenario where every side had to conquer as many quarters of the table as possible), but it wasn’t enough and the outcome was a mere 0:4.

Some impressions from the tournament site:

Game Three

Well, after the second game, with only two points at the moment, the last one should be a little bit more successful. Our opponents fielded a coalition of Skaven and High Elves, containing a Plague Furnace, a Hellpit Abomination, White Lions and many Plague Monks. At least, locating the targets were pretty easy: for this was a scenario where you had to ‘break’ the other army, meaning that you had to conquer enemy standards and kill the enemy general, all we had to do was sitting at the back and shooting. My cannon got the order to shoot the Hellpit Abomination – she didn’t count for the outcome of the game in victory points (as normal victory points were not calculated), but could very serious damage to our troops.

Happily, I managed to shoot the Abomination in the first turn. Having cancelled this threat, both units of White Lions faced each other at the right flank, while the Skaven marched towards us a little bit slower. It came to a big melee with my Hammerers unit containing my General with the Plague Monks and their Plague Furnace. Obviously, the Ratmen had their banner which allowed them to reroll attacks and wounding hits in the first round of battle, so my poor Hammerers suffered severe damage right from the start of this important fight – at this moment, all armies including our High Elves were ‘broken’, so the outcome of the battle laid on the shoulders of my Hammerers – if their banner and the General would fall, I would be ‘broken’ too and we had a 2:2. Gladly, I rolled luckily enough to save at least the Runesmith and we won the battle 3:1. So, it wasn’t that bad at all.

We landed on the second-last place, only our unlucky opponents of the third round (who managed to kill their own magicians with a miscast) scored less.  But hopefully, we will see many of the participants of this tournament on the next events.

Afterthoughts

All in all, it was quite an astonishing tournament. The site was very nice, the games were fun to play, the catering was good (grilled sausages and chicken) and we were able to play for a good cause. So altogether, I’m looking forward to compete again at the next occasion. Sadly, the Dwarves played a humble and poor part in the battles, but after all, it was for the fun and good cause, so be it 🙂 The High Elves, on the other hand, were an interesting partner. With the White Lions as a frightening melee unit and the Eagle as an excellent unit for frustrating enemy units, they filled the usual gaps of a Dwarf Army – movement and melee skill.

Hope you enjoyed this tournament report. If you have some money left, I would ask you to have a look at the homepage of the St. Anne Children’s hospital (http://www.stanna.at/) – it’s definitely worth it!

Ogres vs. High Elves

Introduction

So, this will be my first single-battle report in this blog. I would play against Paricidas, one of the members of my local Warhammer Club, the „WoW/Keepers“ (a combination of two former clubs in Vienna, the „World of Warhammer“ and the „Keepers of Dice“. And yes, we are older than World of Warcraft. ;-)). He is a regular player, but has always stayed a “casual gamer” rather than playing tournaments. You can read about our last battle featuring Dwarves against Skaven here (http://www.tabletopwelt.de/forum/showthread.php?t=144722, if you understand German of course).

I knew that we are at a pretty similar gaming level, so the battle promised to become intense and interesting.

The Ogres

Tyrant, General, LA, Giantbreaker, Sword of Striking, Rock Eye – 255 Pts.
Slaughtermaster, lvl4, Fencer’s Blades, Scroll, Lore of The Great Maw – 345 Pts.
Bruiser, GW, LA, BSB, Banner of Eternal Flame – 151 Pts.
9 Ironguts, M – 397 Pts.
9 Ironguts, M – 397 Pts.
6 Maneaters, 6 x Brace of Ogre Pistols, Poisoned Attacks, Sniper, M – 382 Pts.
6 Maneaters, 3 x 2xHw, 3 x GW, Immune to Psychology, Stubborn, M – 349 Pts.
1 Sabretusks – 21 Pts.
1 Sabretusks – 21 Pts.
Ironblaster – 170 Pts.

The Ogres should be able to cope with most opponents. In our club, the maximum unit size is 40 models/400 points. So the Ironguts and Maneaters were at their maximum size (and I would expect nothing less than my opponent also would play his units at maximum size). The sniping Maneaters were an experiment, as I have never played them before. Perhaps, they would be able to shoot a little Level 2 Mage from his horse. The heroes would be focussed in a single unit, as they could absorb much damage (especially the self-healing Butcher) and grant the so-called “bus” a maximum of security. The Sabretusks would hunt for Eagles or small Skaven Teams, while the Ironblaster was a must-use unit for it could threat everything with multiple wounds.

The Elves

I knew that my opponent would either play Skaven or High Elves, so I didn’t try to build my list against a special kind of army. Against Skaven, I would have to cope with the Hellpit-Breed, while the Elves would tear me apart with their “Always Strike First” rule.

Finally, he brought his High Elves. So it would be a dance around his block of White Lions. His army consisted of

Prince, General, Elven Steed, Giant Blade – 228 Pts.
Archmage, lvl4, Scroll, Lore of Shadows – 280 Pts.
Noble, Elven Steed, BSB, Banner of Sorcery – 172 Pts.
Mage, lvl2, Lore of Fire – 135 Pts.
15 Archers – 165 Pts.
40 Spearmen, M, S, C – 385 Pts.
24 White Lions of Chrace, M, S, C – 390 Pts.
8 Dragon Princes of Caledor, M, S, C – 290 Pts.
Great Eagle – 50 Pts.
Great Eagle – 50 Pts.
Great Eagle – 50 Pts.

The Prince and the Battle Standard Bearer wore +1 armours, but unfortunately, I can’t remember the other magic stuff. Looking at his army, I had most respect before the White Lions and the Level 4 Archmage. Well, at least I had a Level 4 for myself and his Dispel Scroll.

The big block of Spearmen was quite surprising. Sure, with the right spell from the shadow lore, they could become one of the toughest units imaginable. But with our casting cap (meaning a maximum of four power dice per spell), I don’t think that my opponent would rely on this tactic.

The Battle

While I tried a balanced deployment of my units, Paricidas wanted to hit me with a “hard right”, so he positioned his two important melee units at his right flank, with the shadow mage in the Lions and the Prince and the Noble in the Dragon Princes. The Fire Mage stood behind the battle line in the archers.

The battle was opened by the Elven archers who shot my poor left Sabretusk. Predictable. My Ogres turned left to face the elfish units in melee. The Ironblaster tried to shoot in the flank of the Riders, but shot too short. All ogrish Heroes were gathered in the big Irongut unit on the right flank (I have to admit that I didn’t really have a plan where to put them besides keeping them together).

My left Irongut unit managed to attack the Riders (they had to throw a 7+ to do so) and hit them with D3 wounds per hitting Ogre! Sadly, only one of the noble-born Elves died because of this. In the end, the Ogres turned their cheeks and had to run. Happily, they were better runners than fighters and managed to escape (well, there were only two left out of nine). Meanwhile, in an attempt to blast a fat chicken (eagle) to hell, the Ironblaster blew himself off and only left a decent crater. So much for this.

But not everything was lost. The Sniper Ogres decided that they would win far more glory in melee and attacked the Dragon Princes in the flank. Sadly, they lost too, but stood in melee because of the Stubbornness the Slaughtermaster had casted on them before. Eat this, Elven Prince!

The rest of the battle was short and bloody – my general unit was too afraid (and outflanked by eagles) to cope with the forty thieves, ehm, Spearmen and was of no use in any form. The Maneaters dealed with the Dragon Princes with their Lords and managed to kill them at last. But in the meantime, the White Lions were busy themselves ad attacked the two surviving Ironguts and smashed right through them in an attempt to catch the more pricely Maneaters.

Finally, I got his General, the Battle Standard Bearer and their unit of Dragon Princes, while he could get my whole army. I would like to say “bad luck”, but I’m realistic enough to see that there were too many playing mistakes to speak of luck. Anyhow, I have to congratulate my opponent. He played well and never failed to use his units to their best efforts. And he didn’t complain and cursed when his general unit was eaten, a skill most underestimated in our days.

Afterthoughts

Well, this didn’t go too well. I made some big mistakes (especially in the movement phase) which were avoidable. Hopefully, I can use the Sabretusks better next time. In most battles, they have been cheap points for the opponent and causing panic tests in my line whenever they were shot. So I definitely will have to think about their use.

The Sniper Maneaters didn’t perform as I have expected, but their maximised numbers of attacks have been quite useful in melee. Despite the outcome of the game, I enjoyed fielding this force and think that I will play the next battles with a very similar list. And perhaps I will be able to reduce my gaming mistakes.

Stay tuned.

Battle for Katzelsdorf II

So, this will be my first tournament report in this Blog. I decided to field my actual army, the Ogres to the lovely city of Katzelsdorf (south to Vienna) and crush some heads (only literally, of course). It was a fine tournament, with a free sausage buffet, a motivated organization team and many many new faces which have never played a tournament before (it was thought to be more a fun than a competitive event). So the armies should be fun to play against and not the usual tournament lists.

I decided to bring my Ogres for two reasons: firstly, after the local tournament organisators had a very restrictive and banning attitude against Dwarves, my most beloved race, I wanted to try something else. And because I have played Ogres with the bad crappy old book, I wanted to give the old fatties another chance. As the tournament should be especially friendly for new tournament players (although I still do not understand why someone who likes Warhammer should not like to play tournaments), the army size was restricted to 1650 points. The Ogres should do well with this little size.

Tyrant, General, LA, Giantbreaker, Sword of Striking, Potion of Strength – 270 Pts.

Butcher, GW, Scroll, Lore of The Great Maw – 134 Pts.

8 Ironguts, M – 354 Pts.

8 Ironguts, M – 354 Pts.

6 Maneaters, 3 x 2xHw, 3 x GW, Immune to Psychology, Stubborn, M, S, Lookout Gnoblar – 364 Pts.

Ironblaster – 170 Pts.

Total: 1646

A tough little expedition with much punch in the core and elite section. The big cannon was meant for things like chariots and eagles, which can ruin the day of every tyrant. Additionally, I had to bring one Ironblaster because the scenario of the second game included a dragon which should be killed and gave massive game points to the player who slayed him. So, I needed a weapon which could could multiple damage.

The core units were easy choices. Thanks to Games Workshop, basic Ogres are no mandatory selection anymore and so we can use the much better Ironguts to fill the core ranks. The Butcher was taken simply because I wanted the Scroll, and the Maneaters were taken because I did not have the cat riders ready at this moment.

The Tyrant was an experiment. I tend to misroll the attack rolls when I need them most, so the Sword of Striking was an obvious choice. The Great Name is also an easy choice, for it provides the Tyrant with the really needed hitting power. But the Potion of Strength was primary meant against the dragon in scenario two, when I would need something against this Toughness-6 Monster. Looking back, perhaps I should have given the Butcher the Rock Eye and therefore cancel the Lookout Gnoblar.

First Game – Bernhard Horner (Ogres)

The very first competition and it should be a battle against another tribe! Well, it wouldn’t be too tough, would it?

My opponent played a slightly different list than me. Instead of the Maneaters, he fielded four Cat riders and used a Firebelly and a Sabertooth (OK, I have to blame myself for forgetting to take one with me) and a big unit of Thunderers instead of the big cannon. So he had no Tyrant, no big impact unit and no cannon. As long as I could hit his riders with the cannon, it should not be too hard to play. How pathetically wrong I was…

The game started with a poor decision. I wanted the Maneaters to come from the right side, so I placed them far too right where they could not be of much use. My opponent could easily dance me out with shooting some Ironguts with his Thunderers and blocking my important units with the Sabertooth and Gnoblars (again, never forget the Sabertooth. Perhaps I was a little scared to take him because he could cause panic tests so easily). Anyhow, I was blocked out and couldn’t do any harm against his riders. The only positive shoot from the cannon caused two dead Thunderers, failed their panic tests and run (not far enough, though, but it was very satisfying).

The rest of the game: he manages to eat my Butcher with his Ironguts, and can run over into the cannon (again, I have to remember to place it more properly). The Tyrant feels brave and counterattacks the Firebelly/Irongut unit, but he can’t save the cannon. The Maneaters storm into the Thunderers, and even manage not to be shot altogether, but then have to face the cat riders which they obviously don’t survive.

So, in the end, I am seriously beaten by my own race and have to rethink something playing Ogres. Congratulations to my opponent, he always used his tools to best effort and got a deserved victory (although I don’t remember the points exactly, I was happy not to be beaten up 0-20).

Second game – Jakob Husinsky (High Elves)

Ah, High Elves. Always striking first (and rerolling this!) and carrying Great weapons surely are the nightmare of every honest Tyrant who has no option to reroll his dice. Anyhow, maybe the scenario would help. We both would have to hunt a dragon, who gave additionally victory points to those who slayed him. Couldn’t be too tough for Ogres, eh?

The melee units of the elves were not too big, but my first target was the dragon – if I could kill him first, I would (at least) score four tournament points. So I added the tyrant to the Maneaters and tried to charge in round one. Sadly, I missed the score for just one inch. Anyhow, it was no catastrophe.

The elven mage blow himself up, so I didn’t have to care about magic any more. While the Phoenix Guard ate my Butcher/Irongut unit, the Tyrant and the Maneaters could charge the White Lions with an elven hero and kill them. But sadly, it wasn’t enough, for the Phoenix Guard showed up in the rear and ate the poor Tyrant.

The dragon survived the game (who could have guessed?) and neither one of us got the bonus points. I’m still not quite content with this scenario, for it is nearly impossible for any player to score 20 points, due to a very strict victory points calculation table.

Game three – Benjamin Wolf (Empire)

Well, Empire. With no steam tank, no griffon riders, and just one cannon. At last, an army that should be manageable. How wrong I was…

The game started pretty good, when my Ironblaster could blew up his cannon and therefore eliminate the biggest trouble for my Ogres. The scenario was a bit like the second, for we had to chase a running wizard. Again, I wanted a confrontation right in the middle of the board, so the units headed forward. The Maneaters (now on the left flank) tried to keep the Greatswords out of the game, while my Ironguts with the Tyrant should cope with the inner circle knights with priest in front of them. Well, it wasn’t quite as I expected. I managed to attack the knights, but their +1 save kept too many of them alive, so I couldn’t break them and was attacked in the flank by the smaller knight unit in return. When I saw that the two Irongut units plus the heroes were lost, I conceded (also due to the fact that I was very tired at the end of the third game).

At the end, it was a very fine tournament. Congratulations to all my partners, every one of them deserved his victory (although I am pretty happy that I managed not to lose the first two games with zero points). A big thank you to the organization team, who cared a lot and created a very fine tournament (and sausage buffet, and nicely cooled tournament rooms). Perhaps, some of the new faces I saw will attend in a tournament in Vienna.

And for the army: I enjoyed the straight-forward playing style of Ogres, although I didn’t play them well. I know that there will be a lot of practising ahead. But the ultimate goal of winning a tournament is still ahead.

Perhaps, I will try the Slaughtermaster with the Frog Roll and Lore of Death in future games. Although I know that I will prefer the more directly and offensive Tyrant, maybe I will understand why he is esteemed to be so effective.

Some armies participating in the tournament

As the tournament progresses, players struggle for keeping concentration

The trophies, the happy winner and the organization team and a random player from Vienna on the left (just to add a little sexappeal)