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By Kaļo
and Soul Caresser
Prequel:
(Kaļo)
Last year I attended this
tournament on both Saturday and Sunday with a nice stay in a local hotel
together with 3 knights of Bayard. This year we were going to do the same but we
were 6 in total. Ignoring the fallen snow of the past days we drove to Roermond to have a nice time both at the tournament and during the free Saturday
evening.
(Soul Caressser)
Again I was going
to the
tournament with my little
green fellows.
Hopefully
the dice
would be with
me so i could be a match for most opponents.
The tables:
The tables were only 40 inch
wide but a little longer (50"). The scenery was scattered in a themed fashion
which ment that you had tables with only buildings (having been declared
impassable by a house rule) and others with only trees and hills. But at least
the scenery gave tactical possibilities but as I played the two days with two
totally different lists I knew that this could bother me on Saturday while on
Sunday it would proof very advantageous.
Saturday Report:
List:
Sigmar's Hammers
The draw of battles:
I
was tapped on the shoulder by an
adversary of last year. I had the pleasure of opening the 'festivities' against
him. He was...
Round 1:
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Kaļo's
Opponent:
Henk Saes.
Army:
Empire.
About
the opponent: Henk is a veteran in the ranking and a nice player to have as
opponent. He plays different armies and is always good for a new insight on
an army. Even with 'my own Empire' he surprised me a little. Henk, always a
pleasure...
About
the battle:
I was facing a Empire gunline
but not with a lot of magic. A Captain on Pegasus was the only model that
could really bother me when it came to movement but with two canons, a
mortar and a helblaster I had to have a big chunk of luck to see both my
steam tanks get into combat. In my first round I tried to shoot two of his
war machines with my steam tanks inflicting 2 wounds on both the helblaster
and a great canon. But then Henk took aim at my behemoths and took big chunk
out of them. My big unit of knights was also decimated by concentrated gun
fire and eventually nothing reached the battle line of Henk. The only guys
which were able to take some victory points were the outriders. Henk took
revenge for his loss of 2008 by scoring a massacre after a fair and
relaxed battle.
Most
valuable unit(s):
- My outriders for killing the pegasus, a unit of
pistoliers and a battle wizard. In doing that they were the only unit to
score victory points.
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Soul Caresser's
Opponent:
Bjorn Verpoorte.
Army:
Daemons of Chaos.
About
the opponent:
I did fight Bjorn before
but that was against his Lizardmen army. That was a close fight. But looking
at the units from his daemon army it would be a heavy nut to crack.
About
the battle:
After the
setup was made Bjorn had ofcourse the best roll off and could start with the
movement of his units. He shielded the vulnerable units with his hounds of
Khorne. So my magic would be less effective. In turn 2 the hounds of Khorne
made a charge at most of my units releasing prompt the fanatics around them.
Most of them did not do the damage which I like. But one unit was decimated
by the fanatics. His hand to hand was then very poor which left my little
night goblins standing. And thus I could make a counter charge with both
giants. One of which did jump up and down at a whopping 11! Taking down most
of the hounds and after the break test they went back into the warp. On the
other side my squig hoppers where charged and where not massacred by the
another 6 hounds of Khorne. To both surprise. So after a good strike back
again a lot of wounds where inflicted and I stood again my ground. The Third
turn went very bad for me loosing two of my wizards due to miscast and bad
amulet work. From then on things went fast and Bjorn managed to break trough
the lines with panic loosing more and more units that ran of the table! A
nice showdown with my Goblin lord against his Bloodthirster went down very
poor by me missing all my attacks at the big nasty thing.
Most
valuable unit(s):
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Round 2:
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Kaļo's
Opponent: Alexander Kosters a.k.a. Soul Caresser (Tactica Chaplains).
Army:
Orcs & Goblins.
About
the opponent: Well, what can I say. He's the most
horrible player in the ranking! Just kidding of course. Every battle I have
ever played against Alexander has resulted in a sequence of hilarious dice
rolls and remarks that make a battle twice more fun than others. As always:
the sooner we play again the better. Maybe we must come together sometime to
play a really large battle, say 4 to 5000 points?
About
the battle: What a battle, what a battle. Stuff of legends if you ask me.
Some highlights?
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In his turn 1 Alexander charged
spider riders into my nilla knights but lost the combat. I pursued of
course and in my turn 2 I declared a charge on them. They fled and a
nearby night goblin unit released 3 fanatics. Only one hit home and
struck down a knight. I took the knight at the left allowing me to pass
the 2 other fanatics and charge into a chukka with a Shaman. Needless to
say they were killed by the charging knights. The other nilla knights
overran the 10 squig hoppers but were destroyed by released fanatics on
my left flank.
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In Alexanders second turn his
fanatics started by moving through his own giant (2 wounds), a chariot
(1 wound), a unit of Night Goblins (5 wounds) and destroying a unit of 5
wolf riders. I watched in awe because he was doing more wounds than I
was.
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In my turn 3 my steam tank
charged the unharmed giant which fled. My outriders got rid of the other
giant. Alexander's turn started with taking terror tests which were
failed by the Night Goblins, that went of the table, and a chariot that
just passed another unit near its own table edge. One of his fanatics
kept turning towards his own units doing damage on Night Goblins. The
Shaman with Nibbla's Itty Ring rolled a 1 for the second time killing
himself. A fully ranked unit of Night Goblins charged the 4 knights that
had come on the table but did not get through their armor. It finished
as a draw.
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In my turn 4 giant 2 was killed
by a steam tank. The 4 knights still held their ground against the Night
Goblins getting another draw.
-
Alexander casted Brain Bursta on
a steam tank in his turn 4. He rolled 3 hits which were all saved. In
the battle between the 4 knights and the Night Goblins another draw was
scored.
-
In my turn 5 the grandmaster and
his retinue came to the rescue of the 4 knights destroying the night
goblins. The steam tank placed itself near the bolt thrower and shaman
on my left which both failed their terror test in the beginning of their
own turn and fled of the table.
-
All the rest was cleanup.
I was blessed by both my and
Alexander's dice. All that he threw went wrong were I was having a lucky
streak. A massacre was mine. Must have been the lucky blanky I had been
sitting on ;o)
Most
valuable unit(s):
-
(4) Nilla knights that had held
my right flank.
-
The steam tank on the left
causing terror and destroying a giant.
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Outriders: whatever they took
aim at, went down...
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Soul Caresser's
Opponent: Kaj Geenen a.k.a. the Chosen of Sigmar a.k.a.
Kaļo of the Money Wolves.
Army:
Empire.
About
the opponent:
YES and YES again I was able to play one of my good Belgium friends! What a
treat it would be again under the joy of a nice drink!! And table side was
not thus important but the side where the heating was!!!!!!
About
the battle:
Kaj came along with a lot of cavalry units and two steamtanks! With
supporting units that had most of them shooting. The setup from Kaj was good
and also what I thought. I had a view that I could do a lot of damage with
my units against him and hopefully win the battle! After the first turns
where away and some magic was down disaster struck. After a nice charge of
my spider riders against his knights. O yes, they have a good chance of
staying alive but you need to try things. Needless to say my dice roll
started of very badly and I had to flee for my live with the knights in the
pursuit. Which trigged within the 8 inch the fanatics from the night goblin
unit. But again due to poor dice roll only one fanatic managed to come
trough the unit and inflict tree hits from which two where saved! Because he
smartly picked the dead knight thus on the side of the incoming fanatics he
could charge the bolt thrower unit with one of my shamans! From then on it
went only down with the dice rolls. Spider riders that where in a forest
managed to inflict two kills on his Inner circle knights with great weapons!
Thus loosing half points for that unit. My shamans went again down in a hail
of miscast and bad dice rolls. Again by the bad made amulet!!!! Units did do
squabble and if they did not do that then they went fleeing under the terror
of the evil looking Empire cavalry. This and the insult of poor dice roll
cost me the complete battle against Kaj.
Most
valuable unit(s):
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Round 3:
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Kaļo's
Opponent: Bart Rijk (Hired Guns).
Army:
Lizardmen.
About
the opponent:
Bart is one of the top 5 players in the Ranking at the moment and so a real
tactical challenge. Apart of that he's a pretty relaxed and nice player to
game with. We had a very nice game and as with all other opponents of today
I wouldn't mind playing him again.
About
the battle: An oldblood on carnosaur and 2 Engines of the Gods were the main
threat at the other side. I opted to let my grandmaster and his retinue to
hold the right flank and was going for the center with my two steam tanks.
One was charged by the carnosaur and in a single turn got minimized one
wound. In came the second steam tank and the carnosaur was wasted by the
impact hits. The oldblood had to flee doing that just past the Huntsmen I
just moved. I used my outriders and my pistoliers to get rid of the pesky
skinks. At a certain moment I got impatient and charged my grandmaster plus
bodyguard to one of the engines. Too short and I knew I wouldn't stand a
chance against the behemoth charging me. I had gambled and lost sort of
speak. In the mean time my outriders and steam tank cleared the left flank
while the two engines did the same with my right. A small mistake of Bart
charging his oldblood into my steam tank in his last turn made a little
difference in the final score. The oldblood failed to wound my steamtank and
was outnumbered by a terror causing creature making him break. Only 3 large
targets (2 stegs and steam tank) remained from this bash-fest ending it in a
minor victory for Bart. What a game...
Most
valuable unit(s):
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Soul Caresser's
Opponent: Sven Swennen.
Army:
Dwarfs.
About
the opponent:
I had never met Sven and this was the first encounter. So I did not what to
expect about him as he was also young of age.
About
the battle:
He did
roll of the highest dice for the table side and he did go fore the side with
the biggest hill for all of his war machines. This did give me a idea about
the opponent and after seeing his gunning line with two bolt throwers,
grudge thrower and organ gun to sum it up. Not to forget the nice little
point sink Anvil. Needless to say he had the first turn and prompt started
shooting at the chariot of my General, leaving the poor fellow on foot.
Other wounds where inflicted against the giants. In my turn I went as fast
as I could forward but was again slowed down by a lot of Squabbling units.
But I put pressure on him with the movement of the giants. His next turn of
shooting took out my other two goblin chariots and did a one wound on the
second giant. I went along again and did move one giant forward again and
pivoted him so he was looking nicely against the line of war machines
standing in a nice row on the hill. His flanking unit of dwarfs with great
axes were again charged by the wolf riders but to no avail. Again I did
throw poorly and had to flee again. In the magic phase I was able to help
the giant with some green hand into contact with the war machines and could
go for hand to hand combat! This to sheer horror of my opponent. Needless to
say the rest of the army still was being shot to bits. Turns went along and
the spider rider unit that did give a flee as charge reaction, did flee the
battle as well. The fanatics started to do the damage and go trough his
dwarven unit. My shamans went for the big impact hits with a big and green
foot upon his hammer unit! And inflicting causalties. My general on foot had
joined a unit of night goblins which was charged by the dwarven unit. I
issued a challenge and had to fight the champion which was butchered, giving
me the edge with the combat resolution. In the next round of combat I again
issued a challenge and went on the fight with the Thane. I inflicted a wound
but in return got two! I held ground and the fight went along. In the last
round the giant had put the last war machine to death and his hammer unit
was running back to support the depleting war machines. The end of the
battle was nearing and we where also running out of time. Thus we played
until turn 5 and ended with a draw.
Most
valuable unit(s):
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Aftermath Saturday:
(Kaļo)
I
ended on a nice 15th place. I had three nice opponents and had a real good time.
The list with a grandmaster and 2 steam tanks wasn't an incredible success but
held its own. My fellow Knights of Bayard also had some nice places and Tony had taken third
place and the price for best painted army. This could be the preface of a
nice evening with the boys...(Soul Caresser)
Well it was a nice tournament again, in which I
lost point because of very bad dice rolls. Well better luck next time.
Back to Top
Evening with the boys...
Not that I'm going to get into detail but we had a nice
meal in a local Italo-Egytpian pizzeria after which we went to the pub we had
attended during our visit in 2008. Not so many people in this time but the
atmosphere felt really the same. As Baco's and beers went down our throats the
strong stories came out and we had a pleasant evening. At the hotel we tucked in
comfortably for a good nights rest. At a nice big breakfast table we all slowly
came awake. As the previous day had been good for us we were going for a day of
true fun. Wether we won or lost, we decided it would all be the same...
Sunday Report:
List: Sigmar's Fury.
The draw of battles:
As
we entered the shop we heard who we had to play against. I had the pleasure to
play in the yard house where the day before I had annihilated Alexander. My
opponent's name sounded familiar but I was sure I hadn't played him before. He
was...
Round 1:
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Kaļo's
Opponent:
Steven Frencken (Drakenrijders).
Army:
Lizardmen.
About
the opponent: Steven is the kind of player everybody likes playing. Relaxed,
not worrying too much and just having a nice game in a ditto atmosphere.
Definitely another player I wouldn't mind playing again.
About
the battle:
I had a nice hill with levels
in my deployment so I opted to field my handgunners, my canon assisted by
the master engineer and my helblaster here. As a target for the sword of
fate of my archlector I chose the stegadon but as my archlector on his altar
was able to charge the cold one riders on his first turn he never got to
really use it. In stead he stayed in combat with them till the end of turn
5. In his turn two the oldblood on carnosaur charged my steamtank doing
three wounds. I gambled and went for three steam points in my turn and was
allowed to do 3D3 impact hits, killing the carnosaur outright. The fleeing
oldbloo barely escaped the chariot of my archlector. My following turn I
charged the steamtank into the cold one riders in combat with my archlector
doing also a wound on the scar veteran battle standard bearer. The
canon helped by my master engineer blew up the stegadon who till then had
been a real magical pain the ***. In an attempt to make a difference the
oldblood charged into the battle of the archlector with the cold ones and
the saurus warriors in his flank. Instead he found himself challenged and
was killed outright. When the flagellants entered the big fray the saurus
warriors were killed to the man and in my last turn the archlector charged
the battle standard bearer in combat with the steam tank. Once he was out of
the way the battle ended a massacre.
Most
valuable unit(s):
- Archlector on war altar for killing lots of enemy
troops in both the magic and the combat phases.
- Steamtank for getting rid of the carnosaur and
helping in the destruction of the cold one riders and the Scar Veteran
battle standard bearer.
- Canon with master engineer for destroying the
engine of the gods. In his last turn the master engineer ran to the
helblaster to crew it and not allowing the 110 victory points to
Steven...
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Round 2:
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Kaļo's
Opponent: Tom Starren (Drakenrijders).
Army:
Daemons of Chaos.
About
the opponent: Last year I encountered Tom also on
this tournament and back then he was playing with Empire. Tom is a nice
player to play against. He keeps enjoying the game even though all dice seem
to turn against him. We had a nice battle that we both enjoyed. Until we
meet again...
About
the battle: I was facing a bloodthirster, a herald nurgle accompanied by 20
plague bearers, 2 units of 10 horrors, a couple of flamers, some furies and
lots of flesh hounds. I find flesh hounds some of the toughest opponents and
so I directed most of my shooting and magic at them. My steamtank charged
one unit of this beasts and got rid of it in a single turn. Having my
flagellants in support Tom thought twice of charging his bloodthirster into
the steam tank. He directed his charge at my great canon. The furies charged
the handgunners on the hill who held their ground allowing py outriders to
make a counter charge in the next turn. I think Tom hadn't counted on this
and the furies were destroyed, as were most of the flamers charged by the
war altar. in the meantime I had parked my steamtank into the plaguebearers
knowing (hoping) they had not the strength to get rid of it. My flagellants
charged and destroyed a unit of pink horrors and I got rid of the other
horrors by combined efforts of my huntsmen and the war altar magic. The
bloodthirster, who was in combat with the swordsmen, was robbed of his last
wounds by the magic of one of my battle wizards. By then all I had to do was
throw everything in the plaguebearers but I didn't succeed in killing them
completely. I won with a crushing victory after a nice game where Tom failed
too many of his saves and I was throwing dice like they didn't have any 1's
or 2's. Note to Tom: they do have 1's and 2's....
Most
valuable unit(s):
-
Steamtank for destroying a unit
flesh hounds and keeping the big, bad block of Nurgle tied for the rest
of the game.
-
Archlector on war altar and my
grey cloaked battle wizard dishing it out with their light magic.
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Round 3:
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Kaļo's
Opponent: Saydan Ünalan (Drakenrijders).
Army:
Dark Elves.
About
the opponent:
I have seen Saydan on a number of occasions and he
seemed a nice opponent. I can tell you now that not only does he seem to be
a nice player, he IS a nice player. I can honestly say that he can compete
with the most fun opponents I have had since I play Warhammer... and that
are quite a lot of players. I'm not gonna say he is the funiest but boy, if
their is someone I'm hoping to play for the second time, please let it be
him...
PS: Saydan, I'm not saying this because you were saying you could finally be
in a report ;o)
About
the battle: I had to take in account quite a lot of difficult terrain on my
side but since we had agreed that it didn't block line of sight I had an
excellent spot for my shooting to be fielded. I was facing the typical
monster Dark Elves: lord on dragon and 2 war hydra's. I choose the dragon as
the prime target for the sword of fate. No fast cavalry which when I look
back is rather strange as I believe dark riders to be the best fast cavalry
in the business. Oh well, I knew that if I could win, I could come in first
but it was wrong of me to think about that. In the first two rounds
everything seemed to go wrong and if it hadn't been for my kind opponent I
might even have forgotten to fire my canon. Thanks for that Saydan even
though yourhydra regenerated the shot. I had to straighten up my game after
an assassin used my war altar as a darts board. I fled into the bushes,
joined my helblaster but the lord on dragon used it's ground movement to
reach me. Due to Van Horstmann's Speculum only 7 strength 6 attacks were
thrown at my archlector but all but one were saved. With a grin I said I
would now direct all my attacks towards the black dragon. 4 attacks with
hatred hit home, wounding on 2's and did D3 wound each. The dragon succumb
with 9 wounds making the dreadlord (and even Saydan) looking really pale.
The archlector was intercepted the fleeing dreadlord and as I now wasn't
thinking anymore about first place but rather about a glorious death of my
archlector I charged him into the hydra together with some flagellants.
Together they slew the beastmasters, leaving the beast stupid. Alas Saydan
kept the beast in order and eventually it slew both the flagellants and the
archlector. After this it was shot away by the great canon. In the mean time
the steamtank and the outriders had dealt with the other hydra and its crew
was slain by the master engineer. My shooting and magic were getting better
and the Dark Elves on the other side were slain in large numbers. By the
turn my last shooting phase started only a sorceress on her own and and a
unit of 12 corsairs hiding another sorceress were left. The outriders took
aim at the sorceress taking her last wound. The pistolier, the pistolier
marksman and the engineer of the tank shot 3 corsairs. Not enough to test
but then I got a little enlightened. Didn't my master engineer bring along
some feathered friends? A roll of a six meant that the small template could
be placed over the remaining dark elves. 4 were wounded but only one missed
his save. And the impossible happened. With a roll of a 9 they panicked and
went for the table edge. All Saydan had to do was throw 10 or less to save
them. And then he did what he had been doing in the two first turns: throw
only 5's and 6's making it 11 and a failed rally test. The table was cleared
again and I scored a crushing victory after a memorable battle against a
great opponent.
Most
valuable unit(s):
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Armour of Meteoric Iron and
Sword of fate: the dragon didn't see it coming and neither did Saydan.
First most of the strength 6 attacks were saved and then the dragon was
cut into a 3D puzzle.
-
The massive shooting contingent
which proofed that the Empire still has the best gun line if they want
to.
-
One small pigeon who made a
world of difference...
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Aftermath Sunday:
Victory!
Finally a first place is mine! I can honestly say that it felt great to get up
there and receive that nice price. I want to thank the Drakenrijders for two
great days where I have played only nice players, the warm welcome my team
members and me have received and of course the nice prices. I hope to return
next year and defend my title...
By the way: Drakenrijders - The Money Wolves 0-3 Back to Top
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