Kings of Herts Fundraiser!
Another trip North of the river to the South East Gaming hotspot that is Aycliffe Drive Primary School. Well into their stride now at hosting events Paul and Mat had managed to gather their biggest crowd yet for the charity doubles fund raiser. Same drill as before, 1000pts per player and one inspiring character can be shared and become very inspiring. No allies and only one artefact of each type per army.
A change from the norm I took my ogres as I had 1000pts just about painted up and dabbled with a few lists including taking Grok but in the end figured three big blocks of Ogres and a couple of characters to do the smashing would be best. I took:
- Grokagomaok Finest Braves
- A horde of Boomers with headstrong
- A horde of warriors
- A boomer Sergeant
- Nomagorak
- A Biggit on a fleabag with the blade of slashing
- A horde of archers with piercing,
- A BSB
- A dragon Lord
- A Horde of drakons
- A Dragon Breath
With the normal pleasantries out the way and saying hi to the growing community of people I regularly see at the events we were off.
Game 1 Vs Kin/Undead
Pillage
Our tactices for much of the day were not too sophisticated Stack the ogres in the centre with the dragon breath to add firepower, hide the archers somewhere they could lay down fire and not be one shotted, stick the flyers on a flank. So this is what we did. The obecties were collected on the left of the board and both armies set up facing them. The evil army comprised:
- A Dragon with extra LB
- 2 regiments of dark riders, one with Pathfinder
- A regiment of reaper guard.
- A flying chap on a wyrm
- Troop of Wraiths
- Horde of Wights
- Horde of Werewolves
All the Ogres huddled on the left with the archers in the centre and our flyers on the right. Kin/Undead set up similarly with their flyers more centrally. On reflection all of their army was fast, very fast. Battle commenced with both armies pressing forward and our fast stuff moving up to threaten flanks. The biggit laid down his life in front of one unit of knights hoping the combined breath 41 would soften them up for a later charge. The breath attacks were either out of range or ineffective. All the evil flyers and werewolves then attacked. I am used to playing with gigas who at de6 are great for taking a charge and grinding.
I have learnt the ogres I fielded are not gigas. Below is the state of my army after T3
The dragon and the wyrm took out the warriors, the werewolves and wraiths took out the braves, the wights wavered the boomers.This went back and forth with the ogres desperately stalling to try and let the shooting of the elves thin the ranks. Sadly all they seemed to be able to do was waver werewolves with their bowfire. The dragon and drakons were picking their targets and trying to stay out of trouble but the damage was done. The only solace was that the archer horde were far enough from the fight that it tied up units for two turns taking them out. Being just out of range of a couple of the tokens meant that the Julie and Warren pretty much tabled us and won.
Result
Ogre/Elves 0 - Kin/Undead 2
Game 2 Vs Varangur/ Abyssals
Dominate
A mix of Speedy Light Cav and some slower infantry awaited us in game two's dominate scenario. Not the typical lists and it was nice not to play against the inevitable fallen!
- 4 Regiments of Horse Raiders (with bows not throwing weapons)
- Mounted Skald
- Jabberwock
- Horde of Lower Abyssals
- Horde of Molochs
- Chroneas
- Eefreet
- Troop of Helhounds.
We took the first turn and advanced up as planned ensuring that only the dragon was within charge range of the archers and forcing a decision as the drakons were lurking behind. The ogres and dragon fire team advanced ready to try and toast the other flank. In a huge stroke of luck the archesr who had moved up in the centre shot the Jabberwock off the board in turn one! Our opponents moved on their flanks charging the dragon and trying yo shoot the boomers. Their centre stayed firm in their deployment and minimal casualties were caused.
The next turn started to change the face of the game. The dragons and drakons each one shotted the units of horse archers they were facing. This allowed them to turn into the centre and threaten. Had they not the would likely have been lost to flanking Chroneas chargers and bogged down. The combined fire on the right worn down the other horse archers and all attention turned to the middle of the board. The Abyssals moved up but being surrounded on all sides by faster enemies they were always going to be on the receiving end of the charges. after a couple of brutal rounds of combat the net closed and the sole surviving efreet bravely ran off to hide behind a hill out of the way. This left us time to move all of our remaining units into the scoring zone.
The Drakons had over reached to strike the Lower Abyssals and had been lost but everything else was left and within 12". I think we were lucky alpha striking the left flank and shooting the jabberwock, but feel that we were able to pick apart the units piecemeal as the enemy staggered their advance. If they had moved up en masse it could have posed more of a thread.
Result
Ogres/Elves 15 - 0 Abyssals/Varangur
Game 3 Vs Trident Realm/Elves
Loot
We'd made it into our third game before being exposed to any of the kryptonite that is Surge but there was a little in this list. There were also fliers that out paced our units and solid blocks of infantry that would out grind us.
The ElFish alliance consisted off:
- 2 Hordes of Gigas (with the formation giving them elite and sp5)
- A Coral Giant
- An Envoy with Blizzard
- Eckter
- A Regiment of Thuul
- A Troop of Elf Archers
- A Horde of Drakon Riders
- A Horde of Shamblers
- A Forest Warden
- An Elven Mage with inspiring
The loot tokens were placed on either side of the centre, one in a wood on our left and one in the open on our right. We deployed with the ogres in the centre and the archers holding the ground next to them with their flank protected by a house. The Biggit deployed on our left and the fliers on the right. The idea was to stall the left as long as possible and try and overwhelm the right while shooting anything in site. The Ogres in the centre would race up and take the tokens before slowly pulling back. Guy and Steve deployed with their Shamblers, Forest Warden and mage on our left against the biggit. The centre was held by Eckter, the Gigas and the Envoy. The right had the remainder.
we again won turn one and pushed forward. The biggit circling the woods that the shamblers had (obviously) advanced onto the objective in. The drakons moved up behind some rough ground acting as chaff for the dragon and hoping that the drakons of our opposition would struggle charging them with the hindering effect. Shooting was far less effective for us and only took a small amount of damage off the troop of elves. The enemy advanced but with not a lot of shooting we didn't take any damage.
In a similar way to our second game Turn 2 proved decisive. The battle splitting into three parts from then on. The dragon and drakons advanced and took out the archer troop and thuul respectively. Because of their angles it meant the dragon was safe and while the drakons were doomed it would tie up that flank in a tit for tat that we eventually won. Aided by the elf shooting and resilience to take a charge from their drakons.
The centre was fought over to and fro by the ogre infantry, gigas and palace guard. A lucky double one when the gigas charged the damaged boomers set up the chance for a overrun if the braves could get through Eckter. Assisted by a bane chant they managed it and then turned to help mop up the drakons with their firepower.
The left was a slow and painful game of cat and mouse with the warriors almost getting flank charged with surge but needing 2 successes out of 3 only 1 came off. The boomer sgt, biggit and warriors slowly ground down the retreating shamblers and forest warden and pinch their token.
The Coral giant remained defiantly sitting on an objective in Turn 6 as the sole survivor of the elf/trident realm alliance. We were very lucky with the double one as the grind in the centre was in the balance between the ogres and the gigas. Overpowering the middle also allowed us to turn the firepower to assist in removing the drakons late game. If the surge into the warrior flank had gone off too our left flank was in no position to overpower and gain the token. A win which felt like it should have been a draw at best for us.
Result
Ogres/Elves 2 - 1 Trident Realm/Elves
Conclusion
As the placings were read out we were pretty stunned to have come 3rd. Two teams went undefeated and we made up the best of the rest. This was largely helped by the very high Sore in Round 2. I think there is a valid point to be made on capping the scenario points as there were some armies that wouldn't have even managed to get that score if they had all their units in the 12" zone! I think I heard Paul and Mat discussing options on this and I know there have been long and hard debates about the pros and cons of various systems so I won't draw it out here. Maybe for another time.
I was also dead chuffed to take home best army. I painted up my Trident Realm in a bit of a hurry towards the end but have tried to really pour more effort into the Ogres and it's been helped by them being fantastically nostalgic sculpts. The rest of the results are below. A big thanks to Paul and Mat for putting on another great day, also to all the opponents and random people I spoke to about anything in particular. The event was for charity and in the end combined with the proceeds from the bring and buy raised a fantastic amount.
Army thoughts
I learnt the hard way that a Horde of Ogres is not the same as a Horde of Gigas backed up by Rally 2 in game on. The way they folded to the multi charge from the dragons and other Undead units was a harsh lesson. I was impressed withe versatility of the boomers, boomer sgt and Nom but felt the Braves although they hit like a freight train are just a little vulnerable as they have to get stuck in and the Me4 is a harsh step down from warriors who are a lit cheaper. The biggit was great for just getting in the way and plinking the odd point of damage but I will not bother with the blade of slashing in the future. Headstrong on the boomers proved a good option. Elite tends to be a popular choice and I can see why as it makes them very effective at both shooting or combat. However with the de4 and 15/17 the chance of a waver with some missile fire I think is pretty high. If that happens they are very stuck, the line becomes staggered and makes them a sitting duck for te next volley to finish them. If I ever run two hordes staying stone will be on the other one.I am enjoying the challenge of a new army and am looking forward to adding some bigger units and monsters.
The elves performed as well as we expected. the dragon team was a great accompaniment to the Ogre breath weapons and the archers did what they needed to. The fliers were the flanking threat we hoped they would be. The army works well as a unit the issue is the BSB being a bit lost. Previously giving the Breath 10 item worked well but this was in place of piercing on the archers. I think for this points it may be worth trying to share the inspiring more if it is a doubles where that is possible and putting items on the Drakons and dragon.
I'll leave you with a snap shot of why the KoH tournies are so great. a bit of Mario Kart in the lunch break.
While you're here.... The Stane of War events team are hosting their first event in January next year. It's a 1495pt one day event in leafy Surrey, to keep up to date follow the link below.
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