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By Stefano
Prequel:
Being
the first Ranking tournament since april, I was counting the days. And yes,
finally the Knights of Bayard tournament was there! Apart from having a good
time and meeting friends, I was eager to score some points.
The tables:
The
amount of scenery on most tables was just sufficient to be used in a tactical
manner in one way or another, but not enough to completely disrupt one’s
strategy. And that’s what I like! Good job there!
The draw of battles:
Nowadays most of the tournament army lists contain a majority of
daemons, dark elves and lizardmen. I was expecting to get some of those in the
first round, but to my surprise I had to tackle an army with “the good ol’
greenskins”. At least I was not ripped off the fear-causing aspect of my army …
Round 1:
Stefano's
Opponent: Marijn De Lijster
Army:
Orcs and Goblins.
About the opponent: First time I played against
Marijn, he turned out to be quite nice. No big rules fights, and fun
too !
About the battle: We both deployed our big infantry
units in the centre, with the auxiliary troops on both left and right
flank. In front of my infantry, I found one big chunk of black orcs
containing his black orc general on boar, flanked at both sides by a
large unit of night goblins. Tthe outmost flanks on both sides were
covered by an orc on boar chariot and a unit of wolf riders. Finally,
Sprinkled in between all other units were four spear chucka’s, I opted
for my Varghulf, black knights and a unit of dire wolves on my left, and
the bats and second wolf unit on my right.
First thing I noticed was the black orcs being deployed in difficult
terrain. It took them 3 turns to get out of it, leaving me plenty of
time to try and execute my own plan. On the right flank, my wolves got
rid of the wolf riders, only to be trampled by the chariot. I turned my
skeletons with spear to face this flanking threat, and evacuated my
vampires out of this unit to avoid incoming damage to them. I was quite
scared to see the hero and his chariot wreak so much havoc that the
skeletons vanished completely after impact and two rounds of combat.
This created a very weak spot in my defense, for I had no spare unit
left to keep the chariot out of my infantry flanks. Fearing the worst,
I send my battle standard bearer on his own. Revenge was taken, for he
sent the hero running off the board after two rounds of combat. Phiew !
Meanwhile on the left flank, I tried to get past a house with my wolves,
only to find out on arrival the field behind got swarmed with fanatics.
The charge against the flank of the second chariot failed due to too
much casualties by these ball-swinging mad greenskins. The Varghulf was
next to try to disrupt this flank, but after scaring off a spear chucka
crew, he was charged in the butt by the very same chariot, not surviving
the combination of impact hits and close combat attacks.
In the centre, the black orcs were still trying to get out of the
difficult terrain, which gave me the opportunity to do something about
the rain of bolts that were disintegrating my black knights. After two
diving attacks, two war machine crews were removed from the play, but
not until the last standing orc crew threw a snake eyes on his insane
courage test.
Now that the black orcs were finally getting some speed, it was time to
think about dealing with them. I had one unit left to tackle their
front, but being zombies they would have been slaughtered in one single
combat round. So I had to keep the black knights in a reserve flanking
position to immediately make a flank charge response. This was enough
for Martijn not to push forward whit his orcs, so we remained in the
same positions for the rest of the game.
The last piece of action was a desperate attempt from my side to at
least get rid of one unit of night goblins by throwing all I’ve got into
the unit’s front and flank, but they managed to stay put. At the end of
the game, too much units were still standing on both sides to make a
difference. End verdict : draw in my advantage.
Most
valuable unit(s):
-
Battle standard bearer for taking care of a hero on
boar.
-
Vampire bats for taking down the war machines crew.
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Round 2:
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Stefano's
Opponent: Steven Daemers (Knights of Bayard)
Army:
Daemons
About
the opponent: Steven is a nice opponent, we had lots of fun without
arguing about the rules. Looking forward to meet him again some day !
About the battle: I was facing a big block of plaguebearers with nurgle battle standard bearer in the centre, an
equal massive unit of bloodletters with khorne general on my right,
flamers in between them and hounds on my left. I positioned the
skeletons in front of the plaguebearers ready to engage (let’s throw in some flaming attacks
!), with the Varghulf and black knights to deal with the hounds, and the
wolves and zombies to delay the bloodletters, and the bats in reserve
just in case. The bloodletters took the bait, and went straight forward
direction zombies. After a lot of retreat actions, I managed to get
them as far as possible away from my skeleton infantry before the
zombies were reduced to pulp … again. Using my wolves to march block
the bloodletters, I eventually prevented them from any other action
during the game. On the left, the hounds charged head-on into my black
knights. Both units held their grounds, but after three rounds of
combat, the hounds finally drew their last breath.
In the centre, the unit of flaming skeletons made contact with the
plaguebearers, only to find out a lot of their stats were reduced to
“one” and striking last. The regeneration on my side and the ward save
on his side made the number of casualties very low, giving neither side
a big advantage. So I went for the nurgle battle standard bearer, but
he proved to be too tough to slay.
I didn’t like the threat of the flamers decimating my second skeleton
infantry, so I opted to sacrifice the bats. Throwing them in reduced
the flamer’s unit by one model, but cost me all the bats in return.
Seeing the plaguebearers were not capable of cracking the skeletons on their
own, Steven rammed the flamers in the flank of that unit, generating an
alarming rate of skeletal loss on my side (no regeneration against
flamer attacks !). In return, the Varghulf smashed in the plaguebearers
flank, but due to regeneration and ward save the result was rather
poor. Before the skeletons were completely wiped out (and so my battle
standard bearer and general !), I smashed the second unit of skeletons
into the flamers. This gradually tipped the balance in my favor, until
some sneaky poisoned attack made their way through my general’s armour.
After regeneration, two wounds were taken away, so bye bye general.
The ensuing crumbling tests saw the end of the black knights (who were
ready to charge the plaguebearers in the flank the next turn … alas …), and some
skeletons. In the end, there was not much left of my army, and Steven’s
army was quite intact. No surprise the result was a crushing loss.
Most
valuable unit(s):
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Round 3:
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Stefano's Opponent: Bram Rutten
Army:
Vampire Counts
About
the opponent: Bram is a nice player, I hope to encounter him soon again.
About the battle: After deployment, I found two units
of zombies and a unit of skeletons in front of my infantry, and two
units of black knights in front of my knights and Varghulf. With two
vampires and a necromancer, the magical balance was equal.
Bram’s black knights definitely were brought to make a game to a quick
end, for one smashed into a unit of skeletons in round two (thanks to
the pesky Book of Arkhan that for once I didn’t bring along myself …).
The first round of combat saw an alarming rate of skeleton casualties,
but fortunately I was capable of bringing some magically back to life,
and my female vampire even managed to kill some knights in further
rounds ! After she lost her last wound, the fate of my unit was quite
somber …
On my right, things went a bit brighter. The Varghulf took care of a
unit of wolves, before smashing into the first unit of zombies.
Together with my zombies, they were reduced to pulp in no time. The
bats had helped as well, but only one model survived. Seeing no other
use, this remaining bat made an attempt to get rid of the necromancer.
Alas, the old creeper won the combat ! Bye bye bats …
In the centre, the second unit of black knights got stuck into my second
unit of skeletons, containing the standard bearer and general. Due to
my regeneration, the knights lost round after round. I was in high
spirits, still betting on victory, until two of the last black knights
horses surprisingly made their attacks against my general. Two hits,
two wounds, two missed regenerations, two missed ward saves … one dead
general. Crumbling tests all over the place saw the end of my remaining
faster units and the last skeletons standing.
Having no other option but to charge or get charged, the Varghulf threw
himself into the opponent’s skeleton unit. The loss of his beloved
general must have broken a nerve, for the behemoth managed to swipe most
of the 20 models strong unit off their feet in three rounds of combat.
Finally, my vampire battle standard bearer managed to hold on long
enough (thanks to the “walking death” option, granting me a +1 combat
bonus in addition to the battle standard), and with his last attacks, he
took down the enemy’s general as well. Alas, the opponent’s crumbling
tests came out much better then mine …
Result : solid loss.
Most
valuable unit(s):
-
Varghulf for taking down an enormous amount of wolves, zombies and
skeletons.
-
Battle standard bearer for tickling the enemy’s general to death
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Aftermath by Stefano:
First
of all, I always enjoyed encountering all three nice opponents. Hope to see you
soon again ! Alas, one cannot expect to end up high the tournament ladder with a
draw and two losses, so it was no surprise I ended 35th. Better luck
next time, hoping to keep my general alive more often …
A
word of thanks to the Knights of Bayard organizers, for they had to find new
gaming accommodation after their support gaming store stopped, and the old
tournament gaming room wasn’t available anymore. Please keep up the good work
!!! Hope to come back next year !!!
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