By The Chosen of Sigmar and
Stefano
Prequel:
(By Stefano)
The Brotherhood (former Knights) of Bayard Tournament … it’s becoming quite a tradition for me to attend this tournament. They’re up to the 5th edition, and apart from the 2nd, I participated in all of them. I also experienced my only 2nd place on a ranking tournament in 2005, but the only thing missing was a painting price. Last year, competition was quite tough, so I prepared myself well with a newly converted wraith, and the same list as used during the Golden Goblin tournament.
The tables:
(By Stefano)
The scenery settings on the table were just enough to make tactical use of it, but not enough to strongly dominate a battle. Just the way I like it!
The draw of battles:
(By Stefano)
According to the participants list, there was an overwhelming presence of Orcs and Goblins, together with High Elves. In contrast to other tournaments, the Chaos part was quite small. Therefore, I was a bit surprised to find out my first opponent fielded a Chaos Nurgle army. Well, let’s see how we perform against Nurgle, for I have never had such an army against me.
Round 1: Capture.
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The Chosen of Sigmar's Opponent: Rick
Saes Army: Dwarfs.  About the opponent:
OK, I must admit: Rick is a tactical player and he has luck with the dice so
it is no wonder that he always goes for a price. That didn't keep us from
making a couple of jokes just to keep the battle entertaining. About the battle: I didn't get first turn so I had incoming artillery before I could move my steam tank. Only two wounds though but a turn further I knew I wasn't going to do much with my steam tank. On top of that my (fast) cavalry didn't do what they had to do and two slayers were keeping them entertained and killing them in an orderly fashion while the rest of my army was shot to pieces. Eventually I got 50 victory points (one slayer) and suffered a serious massacre of dwarfen hands... Most valuable unit(s):
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Stefano's
Opponent:
Jeroen Haster (Tactica Champlains). Army: Chaos Nurgle. About the opponent: Although a bit quiet in the beginning, he ended up making fun in the end as well. I hope to encounter Jeroen again in one of the next tournaments, for there is much more fun still to discover! About the battle: : Our armies were completely the opposite of each other. Where my army was based on wizards, large numbers but also slow, the Nurgle forces contained less magic, small, but very fast : chariots, hounds, knights, marauder horsemen, …  After
scattering the objective markers for the capture scenario, all markers ended
in the centre in a zone of about 5 square inches. This made my strategy
quite simple : move forward with the block of infantry, and stay on top of
the markers by replenishing lost troopers in the magical phase by the
incantations of Nehek. However, Jeroen started the first combat in the
centre by bashing a chariot and a unit of dragon ogres into my left skeleton
unit. Bye bye skeletons, but the overrun of the chariot took him through
some difficult terrain, reducing the chariot to one last wound. Fortunately
for me, I removed my necromancers out of their respective skeleton units in
my first turn, for there was little to none risk of being shot. On my left
flank, the marauders took down the wolves, but were in return overran by my
black knights. On the right flank, I positioned my dire wolves in such a
way, that a charge from his knights and other chariot would not bring them
into the flank of my skeleton unit in the centre. I also tried to make a
trap with my spirit hosts, but when the knights finally took the bate and
overran the wolves, they ended up way too far for the ethereals. Not liking
knights walk freely in my back, I placed the banshee less then 8” from them,
and rolled 2D6 for her scream. I don’t know how the only female member of
my army does it, but both dice landed with 6 on top, seeing the end of all
knights except for the banner bearer and his general with only one wound
left. To take all threats away, I pinned both down by charging them with a
freshly raised unit of zombies. The accompanying chariot was dispatched by
the spirit hosts by a failed insane courage test.In the centre, the dragon ogres ran from a charge in the flank by my other skeleton unit, and finished them off in a subsequent turn by charging in the black knights. The latter even made it back to my rear to take the last wound of the remaining chariot, but not fast enough to get involved in the zombie – Nurgle knights combat. In my last turn, and after his wizard was killed, I raised a second unit of zombies on top of a marker, making that score 2 – 0 in my advantage. After counting our losses, these extra points made the difference and gave me a solid victory Most valuable unit(s):
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Round 2:
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The Chosen of Sigmar's Opponent: Siebe
Van de Smissen (Brotherhood of Bayard). Army: Orcs & Goblins. About the opponent: Well, Siebe is a new face of the Brotherhood of Bayard. This young lad (13?) has the patience, the insight and in fact the love for the game to make him a very good player. I am certainly in for a rematch! About the battle: Well, Siebe pointed his chukka and his magic on my steam tank and there was nothing I could do about it. My steam tank only killed a couple of trolls but excelled in doing nothing else anymore. My flagellants were killed in two's and three's by some Wolf Riders and my Knights fled in panic when a fanatic had run through them. All in all only the unit of spearmen led by my General survived the battle. A well earned crushing victory for Siebe. Most valuable unit(s):
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Stefano's
Opponent:
Björn Verpoorte. Army: Lizardmen. About the opponent: Björn is an ambitious guy, who really wants to win his game. Regrettably, this reflected in his way of playing and trying to bend the rules his way. To be honest, this took away the fun for me. I advise Björn to read the rules again thoroughly, and give fun a chance to dominate a battle... About the battle: On the other side of the table I found an army quite comparable with my own (residing in a cupboard and yelling to be taken to tournaments, but alas painting not yet finished), so I was hoping to take advantage of the weak points and avoid the strong points. First of all, I declared a charge with a unit of dire wolves on one of his skinks containing his general, but rather then fight they did not overcome their fear and ran. My dire wolves continued their charge straight into his kroxigors, where the wolves found a quick death, and his fleeing unit rallied the next turn. Furthermore, I kept his salamanders out of business by shifting most of the army to the other table side, leaving my bats as bait. Unfortunately, the first spits of the salamanders took down all my bats, so the walking flamethrowers were able to get in my flank. In the meantime, his flying skink hero tried two times to kill my general in a challenge, failing both times. The first attempt was countered by a the use of the gem of blood, giving the skink a wound himself. Alas, I could not overrun the fleeing skink. In the second attempt, I had to sacrifice my second necromancer to keep my general alive, and this time the skink was captured on the run ! (although Bjorn claimed that if a fleeing unit went past a friendly unit, the fleers were safe and the pursuers must stop in contact with the interposing enemy). On my right flank, my banshee tried in vain to “sing” away the saurus cold one knights, but this time she ran out of luck. A later attempt on the chameleon skinks went better, screaming more then half the unit into oblivion. The survivors stayed put, and took position just in front of my black knights. I had no other option but charging them, forcing my cavalry to show their flank to my opponent. With their special banner, the saurus cavalry were allowed to make a D6 inch move in the magic phase, ending straight into the black knight’s flank. Miraculously, my armored “noblemen” stayed on the table for more then two combat rounds before crumbling to dust (I must add at this point that the moves and re-moves arising from discussions on how wheels and difficult terrain are handled, the saurus cavalry was shuffled around so many times, that their “final” move took them next to difficult terrain instead of through it, which has had a great influence on the outcome of the battle …). In the centre, my wraith with unit of skeletons made a charge on his kroxigors, and although I got them below half their original strength, they did not want to break. Two turns later, the enemy threw all available resources in the skeleton’s flanks, seeing a quick end of my infantry and second hero. I also tried to come to the rescue of the knights by charging the saurus cavalry in the flank with the second unit of skeletons containing my general, but this only resulted in the latter being killed, forcing me to take a large amount of crumble tests. The spirit hosts accomplished to get his terradons out of the flank of the rescuing skeleton infantry, but it proved too little too late. Final result : massacre loss Most valuable unit(s):
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Round 3: Assassination.
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The Chosen of Sigmar's Opponent: Laurent
Mariën (Brotherhood of Bayard). Army: Orcs & Goblins. About the opponent: Laurent is another Youngblood of the Brotherhood with somewhat his own opinion on his army lists. Not a really successful one but he'll learn. Anyway, if he wants a rematch he can have it. About the battle: A slow advancing army with no magic or shooting was what I was up against. It was not really a problem and after successfully taking in a charge of his general in chariot my knights pursued him further. Although he was my target they turned to take the flank of the trolls that in their turn were holding the flank of a unit Black Orcs that was charged by my flagellants. Of course my knights overran in the flank of the black Orcs and thus somewhat butchered half the points of Laurent's army. My two units of pistoliers were shooting up the other unit of Black Orcs which was eventually charged by my steam tank. In the end only a unit of Night Goblins survived the massacre. For once everything went well... Most valuable unit(s):
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Stefano's
Opponent:
Kristof Restiau. Army: High Elves. About the opponent: I like players like Kristof, for even when things completely get messed up, the good spirits stay high. I must admit this isn’t always the case if I loose. Furthermore, we had loads of fun and tactical playing, so Kristof, if you are in for a rematch : anytime! (and I still owe you a pint! I won’t forget!) About the battle: Kristof's army was as mobile as elves can get : only cavalry, a chariot and two eagles. It contained two wizards and a captain, who turned out to be the general and was marked by me as the hero to assassinate for bonus victory points. Kristof had the first turn, and immediately started with rushing forward and making a heavy magical assault, taking the lives (so to speak) of half a unit of skeletons and my wraith with a well-placed “pit of shades” that I wasn’t able to dispel. Seeing the havoc his magical phase inflicted upon my troops, I was convinced I wouldn’t see the 6th round. However, I had the advantage of scenery, enabling my infantry to prot  ect
their flanks from direct charges, and my ethereals to hide within
buildings. I managed to get some of my magical stuff
passed his defense, and blocked all further attempts for the “pit of
shades”, partially by my opponent’s bad dice rolls.On a charge of six dire wolves in the rear of his dragon princes with general, he inflicted not even a single wound, forcing him to take an insane courage test which he failed. In all subsequent combat phases, this bad dice roll syndrome kept haunting my opponent, causing many failed insane courage tests. Together with my banshee causing ten knights to vanish in smoke after two screams, and my ability to replenish decimated skeleton units, it gave me the upper hand. At the end of turn six, nearly no elf was left on the board, I repaired most of my losses, and captured enough table quarters and the extra assassination points. A massacre victory it was … Most valuable unit(s):
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Aftermath by Stefano :
Although
the sun was shining brightly and the temperature in the gaming room rose to
those of a greenhouse, I had a very nice day, met again some nice opponents with
only the second battle a bit disappointing. However, the overall gaming feeling
was great : two victories and one loss. Together with the non-gaming points, it
rendered me the 9th place. Not bad I should say!
And on top of that, I was nominated together with two others for the painting price. We installed our armies on a table, and I couldn’t help it to overdo it a bit by bringing along some artifacts to make the army more striking. However, it were the fellow gamers that had to make the decision who won the price. In the end, it turned out most of them liked my army ! So together with some extra ranking points, I also carried away the painting price! (You can see some pictures of Stefano's presentation here!)
Unfortunately, there was a tournament official taking pictures during the awards ceremony, capturing me in a weak moment, as you can see in the picture at the right…
Aftermath by The Chosen of Sigmar:
I didn't do as good as I expected but I had a nice day playing my opponents. The tournament was a success. That goes without saying. Maybe better luck next year...
Pictures of a great looking army:
