By Kaio and
Stefano
Prequel:
(By Stefano)
The
Black Dragons tournament was the last tournament of 2000 points I would play
with the old vampire counts rules. Having proven its potential, I opted for
exactly the same army list as used during Full Tilt a month earlier. On our way
to Brugge I promised the other four Conectr-players that my army would go out
with a bang. Question was: would the bang be positive or negative…
The tables:
(By Stefano)
The
tournament was organized inside the Belfort building, and its medieval look on
both the inside and outside was a nice background for this day’s battle scene.
Even with more then 30 tables for fantasy plus about the same amount for 40k and
Lord of the Rings together, there was still plenty of room for every player to
put his stuff. All together it didn’t matter much to me that the tournament
entry fee was a bit more then usual.
The draw of battles:
(By Stefano)
The first battle would decide the direction the promised “bang”
would lead to, so in fact I was quite happy to see my first opponent dish out a
lizardmen army. Still being a game of dices and luck, I at least know most of
the lizardmen tricks…
Round 1:
| Kaïo's Opponent:
Pierre François. Army: Empire. About the opponent: It was the first time I had to go up against a French speaking opponent. Not really a problem as I know that a 'Arquebussier' is a handgunner but sometimes you have to ask the correct term. Luckily we both played Empire so we knew what certain items do when we had the correct translation. Pierre was a nice and challenging opponent... About the battle: I was facing a shooty, magic army with a wizard lord, 2 level 2 battle wizards and a warrior priest. 2 units of handgunners, a unit crossbows, a great canon and a volley provided the shooting. A Steam tank provided extra shooting but lots of hitting power. In the first round a well placed shot of my helstorm rocket battery took care of the complete crew of the volley gun. My great canon failed its shot on the steam tank. On the right flank I had positioned my infantry against the shooting power and the steam tank whereas my knights, flagellants and arch lector went for the swordsmen on the left containing the wizard lord and one of the level 2's. As always my arch lector threw himself in the fray, challenging where he could. More and more units threw themselves in this combat but a final charge of my patient knights in the flank of his swordsmen gained me the advantage. Only his knights escaped... On my right I baited the steam tank with cheap free companies thus keeping my sta  te troops from harm. My great
canon took enough wounds of it to disable it eventually. The final result
was a Solid Victory.Most valuable unit(s):
|
| Stefano's Opponent:
Harm Kleijnen. Army: Lizardmen. About the opponent: It was my first encounter with Harm, and I was really flabbergasted when he told me he recognized my strigoï general conversion from our website. Furthermore, Harm proved to be a cheerful young lad even when things didn’t go as planned. About the battle: I was facing a highly volatile army (meaning lots of fast and/or skirmishing units) that could easily dance around my army, meanwhile sending volleys of poisonous or flaming attacks into my ranks. While Harm placed most of his units in the centre behind the cover of the skirmishing skinks, I opted for the infantry in front of his stegadon, kroxigors and saurus cavalry, while my flyers and (fast) cavalry was placed on both flanks. The banshees were hidden in some woods, for they should avoid getting in combat too quickly. Question was “who will charge first”… Harm got the first round, and apart from his racing skinks on the flanks, his army slowly went forward. Magic went by unfruitful, but his stegadon knocked a black knight off his saddle with a well-aimed bolt thrower shot. Having no choice but to get in combat as quickly as possible, I rushed all my units forward. In the second turn, Harm went straight for the destruction of my general! I was first a bit puzzled when a combined unit of kroxigors and his saurus battle standard bearer ended up just one inch from my general with his skeletal retinue. But then in the magic phase his battle standard bearer revealed “Huanchi’s Blessed Totem”, granting them a magical D6 inch movement and hence a charge straight into my unit. If the kroxigors in base contact with my general could slay him, the game would be over for me! I held my breath when six kroxigor attacks were made. In the end, only one penetrated the ward save and regeneration. With a sigh of relief, the strigoï inflicted 4 wounds thanks to his hatred and iron sinews. The other kroxigor and the battle standard bearer swept a few skeletons off their feet, but this was far from enough to win the combat. Although the presence of his battle standard bearer and the cold blooded rule, they broke from combat. To add insult to injury, I rolled a whopping pursuit move of 11 inch! The kroxigors and battle standard bearer were caught, and my unit ended straight in the middle of his central battle line. Although being a good plan to go for my general, Harm’s plan backfired due to the high weapon skill, ward save and regeneration of my strigoï. In later turns he threw in his stegadon and general, smashing a lot of skeletons back into the ground, but in the end his saurus general fell prey to a well aimed banshee scream and the attacks of my strigoï were too fierce for the stegadon to bear. As a result, the saurus cavalry panicked, didn’t rally the next turn, and fled into my unit of ghouls. I send my fast units on a skink priest hunt, and once they were gone it was just a matter  of
sweeping away the remaining units. Verdict: massacre for me!I must say the tactics of Harm were very good, but unfortunately my strigoï was well tuned for staying alive. Furthermore the dice gods were not in Harm’s favor at times when it really mattered. Most valuable unit(s):
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Round 2: Capture...
For round two a 'Capture'- scenario was played. Objective of the game was to hold 3 objective markers by having the biggest combined unit strength within 6" of the markers. Each marker counts for 200 victory points whereas table quarters are not accounted for.
| Kaïo's Opponent:
Alex Van der Kort (Tactica Chaplains). Army: Bretonnia. About the opponent: Playing a Tactica Chaplain is always fun. These guys have more or less the same philosophy as The Money Wolves but too bad they're Dutch... lol ;-) I hope to get my rematch soon because he proofed extremely lucky in my bad dice throwing... About the battle: Well, I tried to ignore his flying cavalry as much as possible but eventually they made a decisive flight for an objective. For the rest a unit of Realm Knights chickened for my Arch Lector and made him fail his charge twice. When he eventually reached he was too far away to do anything else. Alex was lucky in his (damn ward) saves and my magic didn't render as well as I hoped. When he charged the mainstay of his knights and his Lord everything seemed to hold. My greatswords stubbornly took every test from the first time but just when I needed the re-roll my battle standard bearer had fallen of his horse. My line broke and the only poin  ts I could still
gather were those of a panicking unit Knights of the Realm with BSB when my
Helstorm killed three of them. The swordsmen succeeded in taking an
objective but eventually I suffered a solid loss.Most valuable unit(s):
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| Stefano's Opponent:
Kristof Restiau (Tin Soldiers of Antwerp). Army: High Elves. About the opponent: I first met Kristof at the Knights of Bayard tournament in august 2007, where I swept his army from the field. Once Kristof saw I was his next opponent, his face and eyes told me he was going for a big “revenge”. No problem for me, for Kristof really knows how to put humor and tension into a game! About the battle: I was facing a lord on star dragon, a unit of silverhelms with battle standard bearer, a wizard on foot, a lion chariot, a few eagles, two units of bowmen and the usual bolt throwers. Playing the capture scenario mostly turns out to be a winner, if only I can manage to get the hard hitting units away from my infantry. Hence, my biggest worry was Kristof’s advantage to decide when and where his hard hitting units would strike. To gain the initiative, I tried by magic dance to move a unit of skeletons containing my strigoï vampire and my wight lord battle standard bearer, but that plan was too obvious for an experienced player like Kristof, for he held back the necessary dice to dispel my book of Arkhan. As a result, my unit was charged frontally by the dragon princes and the chariot, and in the flank by the lord on dragon. Seeing the overwhelming odds, I feared for the worst. In an attempt to drain away a few attacks on my skeletons, I challenged with my wight lord, seeing the champion of the dragon princes accept. The ensuing combat saw the end of this champion (including one overkill thanks to the Gem of Blood) and another dragon prince on the elves side, and a cargo load of skeletons on my side. After combat calculation and removal of extra casualties my unit shrank to only the skeleton captain, the wight lord and the strigoï vampire. Although nearly being slaughtered, it actually turned the tides in my favor: Kristof did not kill my general in an early stage (causing him to shout a big fat “noooooooo” once the casualties were removed), and it pinned down most of his hard hitting units for at least another round of combat. In my next turn, I charged in the second unit of skeletons into the flank of the dragon with lord, not with the thought of killing the beast, but the challenge of my captain kept the attacks from the lord and dragon off my general. As a bonus, I could also count on ranks and outnumbering to even win the combat. I tried to tip the balance further in my favor by successfully casting the -3Ld-spell from the dark magic lore, but the nearby banshee could not take advantage of the lower leadership to cause any damage. My magic actually went perfect, for the only remaining skeleton captain saw his unit replenished with enough reraised models to get a second rank. During the ensuing close combat fase, Kristof nearly ate his dice after his lord and dragon only managed to score two overkills on the skeleton captain. On the other hand, I dispatched another dragon prince and focused all my strigoï attacks on the chariot. The latter stayed alive, but with only one wound left, more then enough to win me the combat. All the elves fled from combat, and my troops once again proved to be too slow to capture any of the opponent’s units. In the meantime, my bats, wolves, second banshee and ghouls closed in on the arrow and bolt shooting units. They all absorbed quite some pointy wood, but eventually managed to reach their targets and butcher them by the end of the last turn. In about the same time frame, his unit of silverhelms took their chances by charging my black knights. After the combat dust settled, only one undead knight was still standing. Since I could not bring in any reserves, this last knight was quickly dealt with in the next combat round. However, the big points were still to be fought for centrally on the board, for all his troops rallied in his turn. The chariot received the replenished skeletons with strigoï and wight lord, was ripped of his last wound, causing my unit to bang straight into his dragon once again. I again spelled the -3Ld on his dragon, and again my banshee failed to do her job, so the next combat round would decide again. The dice eating action of Kristof must have made quite an impression, for three of his attacks past the strigoï ward save and regeneration, seeing the end of my general. I was eventually saved by the fact this happened at the very end of his last turn, and also by throwing very low dice rolls on the leadership tests on my expensive troops. Although heading for a draw during the headcount, eventually I won by a minor victory thanks to  2 objectives in my possession versus none for KristofKristof did not get his revenge (be it very close in the first combat) this was for me the most thrilling tournament battle ever. Most valuable unit(s):
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Round 3:
| Kaïo's Opponent:
Angelo Verplancke. Army: High Elves. About the opponent: Angelo started by apologizing for not knowing the rules quiet that good yet. No worries as I'm also a High Elves player so there were not a lot of things I couldn't tell him without him looking it up. Angelo was a cool opponent. Love to meet him again... About the battle: As target I opted for the mage but in fact I choose not to go immediately for the kill. The large difficult hill in the middle made me split my force in two groups. Again in the first turn my Helstorm struck a complete crew of a war machine. My knights tried to lure out the dragon princes but got charged and suffered great losses. In fact: only my two characters survived. Luckily because now they could rally out of the way of the dragon princes which overran in the flagellants. An eagle charged my helstorm after it had killed a dozen of spear elves. The beast and the crew remained in combat for several turns. On my rightt flank the swordsmen, pistoliers and arch lector swept away all opposing troops only to move around the hill to go for the remains of the high elves force. My arch lector made the most casualties with magic but proofed his value again. Near the end of the battle the dragon princes where in return charged by the warrior priest and my battle standard bearer. They suffered great losses and were overran in return. In my last turn I went for all or nothing as my magic took care of my target and  most of unit. A noble in the remaining 2 elves was sniped by the canon.
After counting the casualties on both sides I ended up with a Solid Victory.Most valuable unit(s):
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| Stefano's Opponent:
Tom Vansteelandt. Army: Dwarfs. About the opponent: Although being the first time I met Tom, he turned out to be fun even with his own army failing on the worst possible times. About the battle: I claimed already two victories so far, so I knew a top-5 tournament position was at reach. If only I could manage not to loose… and then I met a 100% dwarf gunner line including an Anvil of Doom… I’m not fond of organ guns, cannons, bolt throwers, grudge throwers and Anvils of Doom, for they tend to eat up my units faster then I can repair and protect them. Fortunately for me, I ended up on the same gaming table as for round 2, containing two central hills and some woods that could provide me with some cover. I also noticed that Tom would ran out of units during deployment much faster than me, so I was able to pull a “refused flank tactic” out of my sleeve. This would not bring in victory points for me, but it would keep my units out of the firing range of at least a bolt thrower, a grudge thrower and an organ gun. In fact, this is the first time I saw a dwarf player actually move with a war machine for three consecutive turns in a row … For this scenario, we had to secretly appoint an enemy character to assassinate, granting double points if killed or fled off the table. I went straight for the points and nominated the Anvil of Doom. I saw Tom deploy this entity into the woods, which made it nigh impossible to charge, let alone kill … I gladly passed the first turn to Tom to keep my units out of the artillery range on his first turn. Alas, the Altar of Doom decided otherwise, ripping apart two black knights. I needed to get in combat as soon as possible, so I rushed forward with all my units. The ensuing fire circus meant the end of many skeletons, causing me the same headache as always when fighting dwarfs for they have a too strong magical defense to get the invocation of Nehek repair spells through. However, the dice gods must have favored me that day, for the Anvil threw a “1” on his attempt to strike and another “1 on his mishap chart. Bye bye Anvil, and hello double points score! As a supplementary bonus, there were two dispel dice less for Tom. I took my chances and charged the nearby organ gun with my battle standard bearer, and the rangers with my dire wolves in their rear while the rest of the army further closed in. Being affected by the rubber sword syndrome, the wight lord did not even make a dent in the gun crew. On the other hand, the rangers lost two models to the wolves, broke from combat and were ran down. One worry less… Tom kept on firing everything he had, and managed to get rid of my bats, a unit of dire wolves and the ghouls, but the most fortunate shot for him came when a canon ball, aimed at my general, flew harmlessly over his head and right on top of the battle standard bearer in combat with the organ gun. The trajectory did not include the artillery model nor the crew, and that meant the end of my wight lord. As turned out, this was his target to assassinate … The last turns did not see much action apart from a canon crew being charged by the black knights, resulting in one black knight and his hero still standing at the end of turn 6, and a fusillade of all war machines on a unit of skeletons with the necromancers, causing a wound on one of them and half a unit of skeletons to pulp. Having both assassinated our target, and with most of the artillery still standing, I was counting on a draw, but in the end the possession of two table quarters rendered me a minor victory! Most valuable unit(s):
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Aftermath by Stefano :
Three victories in a row during the same tournament only happened me once before back in 2006. I got a feeling I might end up in the top 5 which would already be a very nice result, but I was completely flabbergasted when the tournament organization came up with my name on the 2nd place! This final score together with three very pleasant opponents and the medieval settings of the tournament made me go home with a smile from ear to ear: I promised my army would go out with a bang, and so they did!!!
My thanks go out to the Black Crusade organizers, for they have managed to run the show smoothly. Keep up the good work, I hope to be there again next year!Aftermath by Kaïo:
Too bad about the second round. I was really unlucky with the dice but I had a feeling I could have done better. I was really satisfied of the performance of my Helstorm Rocket Launcher which proofed an excellent weapon against both war machine crew and ranked troops. Of the organization I can say that everything went smoothly. The higher registration fee was indeed compensated by the nice setting of the Belfort. A nice tournament in which I will try to participate again next year.
