Battle Report: 2400 vs Lizardmen

Good game today against a good player and all round cool guy, however my phone battery was dying so no pictures. We used Swedish Comp to score the lists and try to pit filth against filth, his came in at 6.2 and mine at 4.2. I am going from memory though.

My list:



+++ 2400pt Vampire Counts 8th Ed AB and 8th Ed BRB Roster (Standard) +++

Selections:

+ Lords + (598pts)

    * Master Necromancer (165pts) 
        (Undead (AB-26))
        Lore of Death, Wizard Level 3


    * Vampire Lord (433pts) 
        (The Hunger (AB-27), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26))
        Barded Nightmare (24pts), Heavy Armour (6pts), Lore of the Vampires, Quickblood (30pts) (Quickblood), Red Fury (50pts) (Red Fury), Shield (3pts), Wizard Level 1
        * Magic Items (100pts) 
            BRB - Ogre Blade (40pts), BRB - Talisman of Preservation (45pts), BRB - The Other Trickster's Shard (15pts)


+ Heroes + (490pts)

    * Necromancer (90pts) 
        (Undead (AB-26))
        Lore of the Vampires, Wizard Level 1
        * Magic Items (25pts) 
            BRB - Dispel Scroll (25pts)


    * Vampire (231pts) 
        (The Hunger (AB-27), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26))
        Beguile (15pts) (Beguile), Heavy Armour (4pts), Lore of Death, Quickblood (30pts) (Quickblood), Shield (2pts), Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
        * Magic Items (40pts) 
            BRB - Dragonhelm (10pts), BRB - Sword of Anti-Heroes (30pts)


    * Wight King (169pts) 
        (Killing Blow (BRB-72), Undead (AB-26))
        Battle Standard Bearer (25pts), Lance (5pts), Shield (4pts)
        * Magic Items (30pts) 
            BRB - Dawnstone (25pts), BRB - Enchanted Shield (5pts)
        * Skeletal Steed (20pts) 
            (Spectral Steeds (AB-51))
            Barding (8pts)


+ Core + (604pts)

    * Crypt Ghouls (350pts) 
        (Poisoned Attacks (BRB-73), Undead (AB-26))
        35x Crypt Ghoul (350pts)


    * Dire Wolves (40pts) 
        (Slavering Charge (AB-36), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vanguard (BRB-79))
        5x Dire Wolf (40pts)


    * Dire Wolves (80pts) 
        (Slavering Charge (AB-36), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vanguard (BRB-79))
        10x Dire Wolf (80pts)


    * Dire Wolves (40pts) 
        (Slavering Charge (AB-36), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vanguard (BRB-79))
        5x Dire Wolf (40pts)


    * Zombies (94pts) 
        (Always Strikes Last (BRB-66), The Newly Dead (AB-34), Undead (AB-26))
        Musician (5pts), Standard Bearer (5pts), 28x Zombie (84pts)


+ Special + (708pts)

    * Black Knights (333pts) 
        (Killing Blow (Riders only) (BRB-72), Spectral Steeds (AB-51), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26))
        Champion (10pts), Musician (10pts)
        * 12x Black Knight (288pts) 
            12x Barding (36pts)
        * Standard Bearer (25pts) 
            BRB - Banner of Eternal Flame (15pts)


    * Corpse Cart (105pts) 
        (*Random Attacks (2D6) (BRB-74), Regeneration (BRB-74), Undead (AB-26), Vigor Mortis (AB-40))
        Balefire (15pts) (Balefire (AB-40))


    * Hexwraiths (270pts) 
        (Ethereal (BRB-68), Fast Cavalry (BRB-68), Soul Reapers (AB-47), Soulstriders (AB-47), Spectral Hunters (AB-47), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Terror (BRB-78), Undead (AB-26))
        9x Hexwraith (270pts)


His list:


2398 Total

Lords 365
Slann Mage Priest (275) 365
The Becalming Cogitation
Obsidian Amulet (30)
Bane Head (15)
Cupped Hands of the Old Ones (45)

Heros 584
Skink Priest (65) 395
Cube of Darkness (40)
Ancient Stegadon with EotG (290)
Sauras Scar Veteran (85) 189
Battle Standard bearer (25)
Talisman of Preservation (45)
Enchanted Shield (5)
Light Armour (5)
Cold-One (20)
Spear (4)


Troops 635
27 Saurus Warriors (297) 336
Spears (27), Standard Bearer (12)
25 Saurus Warriors (275) 299
Standard Bearer (12), Champion (12)

Special 589
20 Saurus Temple Guard (320) 349
Standard Bearer (14), Banner of Eternal Flame (15)
10 Chameleon Skinks (120)
10 Chameleon Skinks (120)

Rare 225
3 Salamander Hunting Packs (225)


I'd really like a 10th hexwraith but not sure what to drop. I've been using the balefire corpse cart and it's working out really well for me, puts the level 3 wizard back on even ground with dispelling vs enemy level 4 wizards and gives you a real edge over level 1 or two wizards casting small spells like miasma/ISB. I used it last week with a mortis engine & tome with a couple of level two wizards on vampires, and it's great, but the tome is too much of a gamble.

My opponent rolled poor spells, having iceshard blizzard on the level one, the slaan got purple sun, spirit leach, caress of lanish and aspect of the dreadknight. He rolled doom and darkness but swapped it, as LD comes up so rarely for me being able to let skinks cause terror and not flee hexwraiths or roll fear tests might have come in handy, but with cold blooded it never really posed a problem for him.

I got invocation on both level 1 wizards, the level 2 death got doom and darkness and swapped purple sun for spirit leech. The level 3 got fate of bjuna, purple sun and spirit leech.

Deployment:

I had more drops and got to pick my knight bus's match up vs his temple guard unit, skinks scouted on my left flank to threaten with poison. I think deploying the saurus so far out was a mistake, I fed the rightmost spear saurus some dogs and they never saw meaningful combat, and the ghouls got to eat the salamanders as well as protect the bus's flank. I did lose my vanguard on the wraiths as the impassable terrain in front of them was 10" long, so I couldn't be 1" away after a 12" vanguard.

Turn one I moved up, he also pushed forward a lot, which I though might be a mistake as he had shooting and magic supremacy, he could have stayed back and made me come to him while whittling the bus down.

Neither first turn magic phase really accomplished much as I remember, he shot off some dogs and plinked off a couple of knights.

Turn 2:

I charged the vampire bus into the temple guard, and the ghouls into the salamanders. I move my dogs up to feed them to the rightmost saurus. My left dogs are shot down, hexwraiths put a handful of wounds on the saurus as they run through. Ghouls fail to break the salamanders, vampires go to town on the temple guard, killing 11 and taking no wounds in return. Temple guard are stubborn and hold, magic is pretty ineffective.

In lizardmen turn two he rolls really poorly on winds of magic and gets no spells off. He does get into position to take on the zombie bunker, which I shouldn't have allowed, mistake on my part. He also gets 3 wound son the hero vampire who fails all three armour saves at 3+. I didn't realise he had the flaming banner though, and he didn't mention it because he didn't think it mattered (closed lists...) so I should have had a 2+ ward. As it was, the vampire died and we didn't realise until we compared lists after the game. His salamanders also broke from combat on his turn but he escaped.

In the pictures (because I suck at this) it all looks a bit more spread out, the units were in fact more bunched up around the centre of the board. Also the larger terrain pieces are impassable but the smaller were just difficult.

Turn 3 VC: hexwraiths charge salamanders, forcing them to flee back through the ghouls, then redirect into the slaan unit, the corpse cart charges the skinks but dies to the stand and shoot, he rolled 5 poisons and I failed four 4+ regen saves (sigh). Magic sees little from either side, we are doing a good job at shutting down each other's magic. I fail to finish off the slaan in my turn, leaving him a slaan on 2 wounds and a single temple guard, so he was stubborn. He passed 2 killing blow ward saves despite the other trickster's shard.  I use fate of bhuna and kill his level 1 skink priest. Then my wizards are promptly killed by skinks and the zombies are thunderstomped into dust.

Turn 3 LM: Skinks and engine of the gods charge the zombie bunker, saurus on the right charge some dogs, middle saurus move into position. Nothing to shoot at, he rolls a four for winds of magic and throws all four at a last ditch purple sun, which I scroll. He eats the dogs, reforms instead of going into the second unit. I kill his slaan and remaining guard, reform the knights (who are now down to 5 and 2 characters) to face the stegadon.

Turn 4 VC: Going from memory so things are a bit jumbled, so I think the hexwraiths went through skinks 1 up there doing 5 wounds and a panic test (failed), the remaining dogs just gum up the saurus's movement, the ghouls finally finish off the salamanders and the remaining knights charge the stegadon, which is punked by the vampire lord and the knights reform.

LM turn 4: He moves his last skink unit to block the knight bus, eats the last unit of dogs with SW1 and reforms SW2 in front of the ghouls.

VC turn 5: No charges, swift reform and march the bus to get a janky charge on the saurus for turn 6 while the hexwraiths run a drive by on the last of the skinks. Raise two knights and 6 ghouls with my last remaining wizard.

LM turn 5: Charges the ghouls, tries to move around with SW1.

VC turn 6: Bus gets into the saurus, vampire makes way. BSB challenges, wight accepts, nobody dies. Lord whiffs his attacks and combat is a draw.

LM turn 6: SW1 see combat with all of 4 models, nobody dies in the challenge but the vampire lord destroys 7 or 8 saurus, win combat by 4, he breaks and rolls a 9. I roll 8 with my swiftstriding knights and he gets away, but the BSB dies for breaking so that's a solid 289 points at least.

A win to the vampires, after comp adjustments to the VPs the vampires won by 1145 with taking the BSB into account, which in tourney scores should be 14-6 to the vampires. Was a fantastic game and Rich is always fun to play, even if he has weighted dice ;)

Hope it was easy to follow, it's my first time using battle chronicler and going from memory, I'll go back to pictures for next time.

Thoughts on the game: I think Rich had a tough match up compounded by a bad deployment, I think had I not thrown away my zombie bunker I could have had a much bigger win. Rich's dice seemed to be rolling badly at some really crucial moments, like fluffing 5 attacks that would hit on threes, and the wizards in the bunker evading harm for a turn longer than they should have. Forgetting the dragonhelm also cost me 231 victory points, but it doesn't really matter. I like the LM list he played, it's very strong but I think he got a bad roll on spells and I'd have been much more worried if he ran life or light.
     This is the first time I've run a serious bus list and I can see why it scores so low on comp now, the bus unit is hard as nails and 20 temple guard with a slaan are about one of the hardest units in the game.

Hobby & Painting: Varghulf, Crypt horrors, dire wolves

I've been super busy today, spent all afternoon painting instead of working. However, it was productive.

My forgeworld Preyton (Varghulf):

I also added 3 crypt horrors to my unit of 6, which used virtually the same colour pallette as the Preyton, so I  airbrushed all the models at the same time when I did each layer. I also finished 10 dire wolves I had already basecoated, then based and magnetised the lot. 

Let me know what you think!

For Whom the Bell Tolls?

I played an interesting game on Thursday, and I chose not to take pictures as I wanted to focus fully on the game and give beating my friend's bell list a really good try. I sort of regret it as it turned out to be an absolute rollercoaster of a game, I'm going to talk about some overall points and post my list at the end.

I was up against a variant of the bell list, in which he dropped the gutter runners and warlock engineers to put a plague furnace in the monk unit, the 'two towers' list. It was brutal, but I think easier to deal with than the extra warp lightning casts, condensor power dice and scouts. You'll see my list had more chaff which made a huge difference, I got to pick my match ups in deployment and my chaff performed fantastically despite losing the fell bats for two turns thanks to the storm banner (they were out of general range, moving one inch hardly seems worth it).

Factor one: The A-Bomb

He deployed the A-Bomb as usual on a flank with the intention of using it to roll down one side of my army. He put it to my left, which was deployed as my weak side with dogs, bats and vargheists then crypt horrors towards my middle as a blocker for my centre. He chose to run the A-Bomb right on the edge of the board, attempting to get a first turn charge on my dire wolves that had vanguarded up along the edge of the board. He missed by about four inches, and as he got first turn it let me put the wolves on his A-Bomb's flank to block his pivot. He was not facing exactly forward, he was at an angle pointing to the edge of the board with one corner on the edge. Therefore, the A-Bomb cannot move until the dogs are cleared. The dogs got lucky when charged by that weapon team that does artillery dice S4 hits, he rolled a lot of ones to wound and I killed it.
     The crypt horrors and vargheists killed the doomwheel, then the vargs took over the dog's position letting me hold the A-Bomb for the full 6 turns.

Factor two: WLC

First turn he blocked his own pivot on the cannon, so the varghulf raced over out of it's front arc, getting into the cannon and blocking it's pivot on my turn 3. I forgot to charge it, so it was turn 5 before it was killed, but killed it was. It shot off one vargheist and one fell bat all game, solid trade for me.

Factor 3: Skeleton Bus chooses it's match up

Thanks to my chaff, I got to deploy my skeleton unit with my fighty vampire in front of his monks & furnace unit, he blocked me with slave chaff but I had my own zombies and wolves to help, the slaves only delayed the inevitable, and the vampire crushed one unit of slaves, the furnace & unit and the clanrat bunker (who he deployed no characters in this game) who were protecting the cannon. Incidentally, the skeleton unit with the character build worked out great:

Rank 1:Wight king /// Vampire Lord /// Skeleton champion /// Skeleton /// Cairn Wraith
Rank 2:Level 2 Vampire on shadow w/ Cursed Book
Rank 3: ///50 skeletons

So you are limited in how many skeletons you can kill to get combat res, the front rank are well protected, the vamp in the 2nd spits out loads of hexes, you're not likely to get steadfast.... It's brutal. The vampire lord chops up plenty and most of the enemies hitting him are affected by the nightshroud. I think it could have taken on the bell unit, but I went for the small win with less risk over trying to take on the big bad bell. He also made the mistake of being out of range of his BSB in this combat.

Factor 4: The bell didn't see combat

He deployed back, opposite my left flank, and blocked himself in with the doomwheel.. He stayed back so the DW would shoot me, meaning it was turn 4 before he got to my lines. He went for the horrors to try and grab their points, letting me park my level four and his zombies out of their arc, but in range to vanhels bats in his way, and to raise zombies to block him, letting me keep shuffling the horrors back (who were down to 3/8 after all the shooting/magic/doomwheel combat). The bell unit saw no meaningful combat all game, while I locked down the A-Bomb and mopped up the rest.


Final score: +1003 victory points to the Vampires, just about a 14-6 win in tournament scores. I think that's realistically the best case scenario win for me, without him doing something like cascading the level 4 or ringing triple 6 on the bell. It was a really fantastic, intense game though, definitely the games we look for in this hobby!


My list:

         Combined arms/Chaff list (2396pts)

Selections:

Lords (595pts)

• Master Necromancer (200pts)
  Lore of the Vampires, Wizard Level 4 (35pts)
• Vampire Lord (395pts)
  Great Weapon (10pts), Quickblood (30pts) (Quickblood), Red Fury (50pts) (Red Fury), Wizard Level 1
  • Magic Items (85pts)
    BRB - Glittering Scales (25pts), BRB - Talisman of Preservation (45pts), BRB - The Other Trickster's Shard (15pts)

Heroes (490pts)

• Cairn Wraith (60pts)
  
  
  Necromancer (90pts)
• Lore of the Vampires, Wizard Level 1
  • Magic Items (25pts)
    BRB - Dispel Scroll (25pts)
• Vampire (211pts)
  Aura of Dark Majesty (25pts) (Aura of Dark Majesty), Heavy Armour (4pts), Lore of Shadow, Shield (2pts), Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
  • Magic Items (40pts)
    AB - The Cursed Book (35pts), BRB - Ironcurse Icon (5pts)
• Wight King (129pts)
  Shield (4pts)
  • Magic Items (40pts)
    AB - Nightshroud (40pts)

Core (600pts)

• 10x Dire Wolf (80pts)
• 10x Dire Wolf (80pts)
• Skeleton Warriors (300pts)
  Champion (10pts), Musician (10pts), 51x Skeleton Warrior (255pts)
  • Standard Bearer (25pts)
    BRB - Banner of Eternal Flame (15pts)
• Zombies (70pts)
  Musician (5pts), Standard Bearer (5pts), 20x Zombie (60pts)
• Zombies (70pts)
  Musician (5pts), Standard Bearer (5pts), 20x Zombie (60pts)

Special (536pts)

• 8x Crypt Horror (304pts)
• 3x Fell Bat (48pts)
• 4x Vargheist (184pts)

Rare (175pts)

• Varghluf (175pts)
  
  

Battle Report: 2400 VS Ogre Kingdoms

My list:

         Lords (255pts)

• Master Necromancer (255pts)
  Undead (AB-26)
  Lore of the Vampires, Wizard Level 4 (35pts)
  • Magic Items (55pts)
    AB - Black Periapt (55pts)

Heroes (524pts)

• Cairn Wraith (60pts)
  Chill Grasp (AB-30), Ethereal (BRB-68), Terror (BRB-75), Undead (AB-26)
• Vampire (228pts)
  The Hunger (AB-27), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26)
  Great Weapon (8pts), Lore of Shadow, Quickblood (30pts) (Quickblood), Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
  • Magic Items (50pts)
    AB - Book of Arkhan (25pts), BRB - Seed of Rebirth (10pts), BRB - The Other Trickster's Shard (15pts)
• Vampire (236pts)
  The Hunger (AB-27), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26)
  Aura of Dark Majesty (25pts) (Aura of Dark Majesty), Fear Incarnate (20pts) (Fear Incarnate), Heavy Armour (4pts), Lore of Shadow, Shield (2pts), Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
  • Magic Items (45pts)
    BRB - Dispel Scroll (25pts), BRB - Enchanted Shield (5pts), BRB - Sword of Might (15pts)

Core (606pts)

• Crypt Ghouls (370pts)
  Poisoned Attacks (BRB-73), Undead (AB-26)
  Champion (10pts), 36x Crypt Ghoul (360pts)
• Dire Wolves (80pts)
  Slavering Charge (AB-36), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vanguard (BRB-79)
  10x Dire Wolf (80pts)
• Dire Wolves (80pts)
  Slavering Charge (AB-36), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vanguard (BRB-79)
  10x Dire Wolf (80pts)
• Zombies (76pts)
  Always Strikes Last (BRB-66), The Newly Dead (AB-34), Undead (AB-26)
  Musician (5pts), Standard Bearer (5pts), 22x Zombie (66pts)

Special (619pts)

• Crypt Horrors (342pts)
  Poisoned Attacks (BRB-73), Regeneration (5+) (BRB-74), Stomp (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26)
  9x Crypt Horror (342pts)
• Fell Bats (48pts)
  Fly (BRB-70), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26)
  3x Fell Bat (48pts)
• Spirit Host (45pts)
  Ethereal (BRB-68), Skirmishers (BRB-77), Undead (AB-26)
  Spirt Host (45pts)
• Vargheists (184pts)
  Fly (BRB-70), Frenzy (BRB-70), Stomp (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26)
  4x Vargheist (184pts)

Rare (395pts)

• Mortis Engine (220pts)
  *Random Attacks (2D6) (BRB-74), Ghostly Howl (AB-31), Large Target (BRB-72), Regeneration (BRB-74), Spectral Steeds (AB-51), Terror (BRB-78), The Reliquary (AB-53), Undead (AB-26)
• Varghluf (175pts)
  Bestial Fury (AB-44), Hatred (BRB-71), Regeneration (BRB-74), Terror (BRB-78), Thunderstomp (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26)
  
  
  
  
  His list:

  Raw Maw - Pain II (Ogre_Kingdoms) 2,397 points			Made with Quartermaster www.quartermasterapp.com
  Lords
  Slaughtermaster (350)		M6•WS4•BS3•S4•T5•W5•I3•A4•Ld8	Greedy Fist; Glittering Scales; Crown Of Command; Level 3 Wizard; Lore of Death; hand weapon. Monstrous Infantry (Character); Fear; Ogre Charge; Immune to Poison.
  Heroes
  Bruiser (184)		M6•WS5•BS3•S5•T5•W4•I3•A4•Ld8	Other Tricksters Shard; Fencers Blades; hand weapon; heavy armour; battle standard. Monstrous Infantry (Character); Fear; Ogre Charge.
  Butcher (138)		M6•WS3•BS2•S4•T5•W4•I2•A3•Ld7	Dispel Scroll; Biting Blade; Level 1 Wizard; Lore of the Great Maw; hand weapon; ironfist. Monstrous Infantry (Character); Fear; Ogre Charge; Immune to Poison.
  Firebelly (170)		M6•WS3•BS2•S4•T5•W4•I2•A3•Ld7	Hellheart; Level 1 Wizard; Lore of Fire; hand weapon. Monstrous Infantry (Character); Blessings of the Volcano God; Fear; Fire Breath; Flaming Attacks; Ogre Charge.
  Core
  7 Ironguts (341)		M6•WS3•BS2•S4•T4•W3•I2•A3•Ld8	Bellower; standard bearer; Standard of Dis; great weapons; heavy armour.Monstrous Infantry; Fear; Ogre Charge.
  Gutlord		M6•WS3•BS2•S4•T4•W3•I2•A4•Ld8
  7 Ogres (254)		M6•WS3•BS2•S4•T4•W3•I2•A3•Ld7	Bellower; standard bearer; hand weapons; light armour; ironfists.Monstrous Infantry; Fear; Ogre Charge.
  Crusher		M6•WS3•BS2•S4•T4•W3•I2•A4•Ld7
  Special
  1 Sabretusk (21)		M8•WS4•BS0•S4•T4•W2•I4•A3•Ld4	War Beasts; Fear; Running With The Pack; Their Master's Voice.
  1 Sabretusk (21)		M8•WS4•BS0•S4•T4•W2•I4•A3•Ld4	War Beasts; Fear; Running With The Pack; Their Master's Voice.
  6 Leadbelchers (268)		M6•WS3•BS3•S4•T4•W3•I2•A3•Ld7	Bellower; Leadbelcher guns; hand weapons; light armour. Monstrous Infantry; Fear; Ogre Charge.
  4 Mournfang Cavalry (310)		M6•WS3•BS2•S4•T4•W3•I2•A3•Ld7	Bellower; standard bearer; Banner Of The Eternal Flame; hand weapon; heavy armour; ironfists. Monstrous Cavalry; Fear; Impact Hits (D3); Thick-skinned.
  Mournfangs		M8•WS3•BS0•S5•T4•W3•I2•A4•Ld5
  Rare
  Ironblaster (170)		M–•WS–•BS–•S5•T6•W5•I–•A–•Ld–	Cannon of the Sky Titans. Chariot (Armour Save 4+); Fear; Large Target.
  Leadbelcher		M–•WS3•BS3•S4•T–•W–•I2•A3•Ld7
  Gnoblar Scrapper		M–•WS2•BS3•S2•T–•W–•I3•A1•Ld5
  Rhinox		M6•WS3•BS–•S5•T–•W–•I2•A3•Ld–
  Ironblaster (170)		M–•WS–•BS–•S5•T6•W5•I–•A–•Ld–	Cannon of the Sky Titans. Chariot (Armour Save 4+); Fear; Large Target.
  Leadbelcher		M–•WS3•BS3•S4•T–•W–•I2•A3•Ld7
  Gnoblar Scrapper		M–•WS2•BS3•S2•T–•W–•I3•A1•Ld5
  Rhinox		M6•WS3•BS–•S5•T–•W–•I2•A3•Ld–

  
  
  This battle was extremely frustrating, my opponent Stevie is always fun to play but this game he drew out the rage face. You'll see why. Deployment is shown below, after vanguards. I'm using some proxy models, the treeman is my varghulf and the dogs have some models behind them to show that the units are of 10. I was confident about the match-up and I got good spells, but it was not to be. Ogres take the first turn and he marches forwards, magic is ineffective as I dispel his fireball on the varghulf, shooting he does 5 wounds to the left dogs and both cannons fire on the varghulf, that regen saves one and takes only 1 wound from the other.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is where it goes wrong, I fail a slightly long charge with the crypt horrors on the mournfang, the ghoul bus gets into his bulls. No problem, I'll van hel's the horrors in to block the mournfang. Right? No.
  
  The firebelly in the bulls hellhearts in my magic phase and rolls 30 inches, catching all of my characters. It ends my game, as it ends my magic phase my draining all my dice, my level 4 is drained to level 1 and takes 2 wounds, my scroll vampire takes a wound. I can't block the mournfang, so in his turn 2 he charges my general. It's game over from there really, my chaff crumbles away.
  
  I do break the bulls and run them and two wizards off the table, then in turn 3 I irresistably pit of shades his ironguts, killing the BSB. He cannons off the varghulf though, and my chaff is all crumbled or killed. The mortis engine dances around the inpassable rock screaming the mournfang until it succumbs to crumble on my turn 4.
  
  
  
  
  
  My turn 3 The ghoul bus is in combat with the ironblaster drawn in by the fell bats, which I break but don't pursue.
  
  
  
  
  
  Start of my turn 4 and the net closes in on the crumbling remains of the vampire army. Both of my remaining units charge the ironguts, I win and leave him with only 2 ogres and a slaughtermaster on 2 wounds but of course, stubborn crown.
  
  
  
  
  
  No more pictures, I was regretting playing on after turn one by this point. The vargheists did kill the ironblaster, but the quad charge on the ghouls crumbled them and the horrors off the table. We called it there, 3 turns too late, as I could easily fly the vargheists out of range for the last 2 turns and they wouldn't crumble.
  
  
  Ogres scored 2316 out of a possible 2500
  Vampires scored 1062 out of a possible 2650 (I got 1/2 banners and the BSB)
  
  
  Win to the Ogres by +1254 which is a  15-5 win to Stevie!
  
  
  Well done you cheesy bastard ;)
  
  
  
  

The 'Clockwork Zombie' Fell Bats

First 3 painted, ready to chaff up some war machines.

Imagine a unit that hovered but could be sacrificed to dive bomb a unit, probably hitting like a doom diver. About 20-25 points each. Sounds fun?

Converted from mechanithralls (privateer press), some plaster masonry I got in a toy train hobby shop and some wings ordered ages ago from MicroArt Studio (that no longer exists?)

Blurry showcase of the Undead Host

Some shots of the army collection, blurry and badly lit, and these pics are quite old as everything has been fully painted now, plus a few additions. The core of the army are mantic models, and I like to use models from non-GW ranges where I can if they fit & look cool.

Below: Skeleton bus, wraiths, bretonnian black knight unit, corpse cart, ghouls (I have 40 painted now)

Below: Mortis engine, hexwraiths, dire wolves, characters (painted now), a unit filler gargoyle who does varghulf duty sometimes. You can also see the forgeworld wight king bsb hanging around, I should take some better shots of it, it's my favourite mini in the army. 

Below: Close up of the crypt horrors

Below: Skeleton bus

Below: poor shot of the mortis engine

Some overhead shots, don't have a good detail shot of the terrorgheist. It's magnetised for transport and falls apart to a stern look. 

Below: The party wagon...

The rat menace

I've been playing games against my good friend's skaven list in a competitive setting, and I wanted to jot down some of my thoughts on this tough match up. It feels like his list has a lot of answers for mine and my list isn't quite in the right place yet. I also feel that to beat it I have to tailor my list towards it, which is neither in the spirit of the game or our aims at refining our all comers tournament builds.

The big problems in no particular order:

• Cannon
• Hellpit Abomination
• Screaming bell unit
• Doomwheel
• Gutter runner poison scouts

The Hellpit abomination

This is a tough, fast piece that can really go to town on my army. It is a huge threat to my army and CANNOT be allowed to roam around my back lines, while at the same time I feel my lists really lack the tools to deal with it. I've tried chucking poison wounds on it with ghouls, but it can easily eat a unit of 30 over 3 or 4 turns. I can reliably kill it with the chainsaw vampire in a unit of skeletons with the flaming banner, but that's not a very manoeuvrable unit. If anyone has any ideas save taking a level one forbidden lore vamp and trying to 6 dice a big fireball, please let me know. For now I'll have to settle with blocking it's pivots with spirit hosts/bats etc, but he can counter that.

The Doomwheel 

This piece is quite killable, and doesn't stand up to a good charge from the units it wants to get in front of and zap (monsters, crypt horrors). The problem with it is that for 150 points it is such an undercosted piece. It can eat up my chaff, has a dangerous flank charge if left alone and of course, the lightning bolts are enough of a threat that I can't allow it too near any terrorgheist, varghulf, knights, lone characters or mortis engine I happen to be running. This is it's real strength, that it's deployment dictates my deployment. There isn't much I can do about that, except deal with it and kill it quickly.

The Warp Lightning Cannon

The WLC is unreliable, but can easily take out my big pieces like the varg* units, mortis engines, terrorgheists while at the same time being back field surrounded by chaff. I can try vargheists/bats to get in and kill it or at least stop it from firing, but then that's shut down for at least one turn, likely at least two, by the storm banner. Again I can try for the 48" fireball, but if anyone can offer advice I'd appreciate it.

The Poison Gutter runners

These guys would be no problem if it weren't for the fact they are scouts. Almost any of my units can kill them but will take casualties from poison stand-and-shoot then the high initiative poison attacks. I could wear them out with a spirit host as their attacks are not magical, but being scouts he can pick his match ups and would have to be really distracted to allow that. Gaze of Nagash works well against them, as would the rod of flaming death, but with the grey seer around I seem to struggle to get spells off.

The Screaming Bell unit

I'll split this section into the unit's major components.

The Grey Seer

This guy...he's extremely survivable for a wizard, with skalm, 4+ ward from the Bell and fencer's blades. The warpstone tokens being free allow him to dominate a critical magic phase and dreaded 13th can remove a damaged or elite unit from play. He also seems to never care about miscasts, as long as he doesn't cascade killing a few stormvermin doesn't matter. I think silencing his magic would be great, but it's going to be turn 3 or 4 by the time you even get to the unit, and with skalm you must kill him in one phase. You have to choose to kill him, or kill the bell and try to break the unit once they lose unbreakable. If you don't kill both, you don't get victory points, so the choice is the Bell.

         I think death magic could be key, sniping him off the bell or purple sun removing the bell and hopefully the seer. The only problem there is that with magic resistance 2 from the bell, snipe spells won't work.

The Bell

The bell is pretty survivable, T6, 4+ armour and a 4+ ward save. You have to kill it to remove the unbreakable, and this is very achievable if you brought your chainsaw vampire lord. If you didn't, prepare for a protracted combat or try to purple sun/pit it off. But remember no victory points unless you also drop the seer.

The Stormvermin

For 7 points each I think these guys are really a bargain, WS4, S4, I5 and unbreakable? Throw in death frenzy, bless with filth, skavenbrew, razor standard, maybe even roll a 13 when you ring the bell....These guys ensure that even if your vampire scores 10 combat res they'll earn it back killing skeletons/ghouls. So far minimising the amount that get to attack by going in 5-wide helps, but having to maximise means at least 5 models will get into base to base contact.

Overall, the unit combines to create a unit that is more than the sum of it's parts. The magic resistance, tons of wounds, unbreakable, tons of attacks and the fact that it holds so many victory points (and holds them very well) means that there is no 'silver bullet' answer to the unit. Deployed well it can hold a lot of victory points perfectly without danger for 5 turns while you are bogged down with chaff and getting shot to pieces. It's weaknesses include Dwellers Below, which I cannot access, and that the unit lacks magical attacks. I could put a few wraiths in the front rank with my combat vampire so the unit cannot generate combat res on my weak core troops, and I could flank him with hexwraiths. With a combat vampire working on the bell this could work, but this approach is both tailoring the list and easily countered. The majority of his ranged power is magical and hexwraiths would be giving away points. 

They could drive-by the hellpit on the way though. Brrrap brap.

Battle report: 2400 vs Skaven

Vampire Counts

Edited in the correct list I used: 2 points over because I'm a rebel maverick

 No Name (2402pts)

2400pt Vampire Counts 8th Ed AB and 8th Ed BRB Roster (Standard)

Selections:

Lords (444pts)

• Vampire Lord (444pts)
  The Hunger (AB-27), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26)
  Heavy Armour (6pts), Lore of the Vampires, Quickblood (30pts) (Quickblood), Red Fury (50pts) (Red Fury), Shield (3pts), Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
  • Magic Items (100pts)
    BRB - Ogre Blade (40pts), BRB - Talisman of Preservation (45pts), BRB - The Other Trickster's Shard (15pts)

Heroes (514pts)

• Necromancer (145pts)
  Undead (AB-26)
  Lore of the Vampires, Master of the Dead (20pts) (Master of the Dead (AB-28)), Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
  • Magic Items (25pts)
    BRB - Dispel Scroll (25pts)
• Vampire (214pts)
  The Hunger (AB-27), Undead (AB-26), Vampiric (AB-26)
  Aura of Dark Majesty (25pts) (Aura of Dark Majesty), Heavy Armour (4pts), Lore of Shadow, Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
  • Magic Items (45pts)
    AB - Book of Arkhan (25pts), BRB - Enchanted Shield (5pts), BRB - Sword of Might (15pts)
• Wight King (155pts)
  Killing Blow (BRB-72), Undead (AB-26)
  Battle Standard Bearer (25pts), Great Weapon (5pts)
  • Magic Items (40pts)
    AB - Nightshroud (40pts)

Core (600pts)

• Crypt Ghouls (300pts)
  Poisoned Attacks (BRB-73), Undead (AB-26)
  30x Crypt Ghoul (300pts)
• Dire Wolves (80pts)
  Slavering Charge (AB-36), Swiftstride (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26), Vanguard (BRB-79)
  10x Dire Wolf (80pts)
• Skeleton Warriors (220pts)
  Undead (AB-26)
  Champion (10pts), Musician (10pts), 35x Skeleton Warrior (175pts)
  • Standard Bearer (25pts)
    BRB - Banner of Eternal Flame (15pts)

Special (619pts)

• Crypt Horrors (228pts)
  Poisoned Attacks (BRB-73), Regeneration (5+) (BRB-74), Stomp (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26)
  6x Crypt Horror (228pts)
• Grave Guard (346pts)
  Killing Blow (BRB-72), Undead (AB-26)
  Musician (10pts)
  • 23x Grave Guard (276pts)
    23x Great Weapon (23pts)
  • Standard Bearer (60pts)
    AB - Banner of the Barrows (50pts)
• Spirit Host (45pts)
  Ethereal (BRB-68), Skirmishers (BRB-77), Undead (AB-26)
  Spirt Host (45pts)

Rare (225pts)

• Terrorgheist (225pts)
  Death Shriek (AB-48), Fly (BRB-70), Large Target (BRB-72), Regeneration (6+) (BRB-74), Terror (BRB-78), Thunderstomp (BRB-76), Undead (AB-26)

Created with BattleScribe

• 
  

  Skaven List

  
  

  2.4k A Main Bell List (Skaven) 2,398.5 points			Made with Quartermaster www.quartermasterapp.com
  Lords
  Grey Seer (505)		M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T4•W3•I5•A1•Ld7	Fencer's Blade; Skalm; Level 4 Wizard; Skaven Spells of Ruin; Skaven Spells of Plague; hand weapon; D3 Warpstone Tokens. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Verminous Valour.
  Screaming Bell		M–•WS–•BS–•S5•T6•W6•I–•A–•Ld–	Rat Ogre Crew. Above the Masses; Altar of the Horned Rat; Fear; Impact Hits (D6); Large Target; Magic Resistance (2); Protection of the Horned Rat; Pushed into Battle; Ringing the Bell; Unbreakable.
  Rat Ogre Crew		M–•WS3•BS–•S5•T–•W–•I4•A3•Ld–
  Heroes
  Wlight/scroll (Warlock Engineer) (110)		M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T3•W2•I4•A1•Ld5	Warp-energy Condenser; Dispel Scroll; Level 1 Wizard; Skaven Spells of Ruin; hand weapon. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Verminous Valour.
  Chieftain (120)		M5•WS5•BS4•S4•T4•W2•I6•A3•Ld6	Storm Banner; hand weapon; heavy armour; Battle Standard. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Verminous Valour.
  Core
  C M St (40 Stormvermin)(405)		M5•WS4•BS3•S3•T3•W1•I5•A1•Ld5	Musician; Standard Bearer; Razor Standard; hand weapon; halberd; heavy armour. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers.
  Fangleader		M5•WS4•BS3•S3•T3•W1•I5•A2•Ld5
  •	Weapon Team	M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T3•W1•I3•A2•Ld5	hand weapon; heavy armour; Doom Flayer. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Attached Unit.
  M St (25 Clanrats) (189.5)		M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T3•W1•I4•A1•Ld5	Musician; Standard Bearer; hand weapon; light armour; shields. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers.
  •	Weapon Team	M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T3•W1•I3•A2•Ld5	hand weapon; heavy armour; Poisoned Wind Mortar. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Attached Unit.
  M (28 Skavenslaves) (62)		M5•WS2•BS2•S3•T3•W1•I4•A1•Ld2	Musician; hand weapon. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Expendable; Cornered Rats.
  Pawleader		M5•WS2•BS2•S3•T3•W1•I4•A2•Ld2
  M (28 Skavenslaves) (62)		M5•WS2•BS2•S3•T3•W1•I4•A1•Ld2	Musician; hand weapon. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Expendable; Cornered Rats.
  Pawleader		M5•WS2•BS2•S3•T3•W1•I4•A2•Ld2
  2 Rat Swarms (50)		M6•WS3•BS0•S2•T2•W5•I4•A5•Ld10	sharp teeth/claws. Unbreakable; Swarm; Small.
  2 Rat Swarms (50)		M6•WS3•BS0•S2•T2•W5•I4•A5•Ld10	sharp teeth/claws. Unbreakable; Swarm; Small.
  Special
  C M St (30 Plague Monks)(265)		M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T4•W1•I3•A1•Ld5	Musician; Standard Bearer; Plague Banner; 2 hand weapons. Scurry Away!; Strength in Numbers; Frenzy.
  Bringer-of-the-Word		M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T4•W1•I3•A2•Ld5
  5 Gutter Runners (90)		M6•WS4•BS4•S3•T3•W1•I5•A1•Ld7	2 hand weapons; throwing stars; slings; Poisoned Attacks. Scurry Away!; Scouts; Skirmish; Sneaky Infiltrators; Dodge (6+).
  Rare
  Hell Pit Abomination (250)		M3D6•WS3•BS1•S6•T5•W6•I4•A*•Ld8	hand weapon; warpstone spikes. Monster; Impact Hits (D6); Large Target; Regenerate; Shambling Horror; Special Close Combat Attacks; Stubborn; Terror; Too Horrible To Die.
  Warp Lightning Cannon (90)		M–•WS–•BS–•S–•T6•W4•I–•A–•Ld–	hand weapon. War Machine.
  Engineer and 2 Crew		M5•WS3•BS3•S3•T3•W1•I3•A1•Ld7
  Doom Wheel (150)		M3D6•WS–•BS–•S6•T6•W5•I–•A*•Ld–	hand weapon. Armour Save (4+); Grinding Down the Foe; Immune to Psychology; Impact Hits (D6+1); Large Target; Rolling Doom; Terror; Zzzzap!.
  Warlock and Rats		M–•WS3•BS3•S2•T–•W–•I4•A2D6•Ld7

  
  
  
  
  Deployment
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Kieron the ratman got first turn despite having many more drops, this is the state of play after his first movement phase. You can see he's out-deployed my army leaving the ghouls on the far flank and concentrating his units on my flank.
  
  
  Shooting is uneventful this turn, apart from the cannon removing two crypt horrors.
  
  
  
  
  
  I've moved the terrorgheist off his base in this picture. The 10 dogs charge the gutter runners, between stand and shoot and combat they lose 5 but break the GRs (aided by a scream from the TG) and pursue them off the board. The hellpit is threatening my flank and you can see Kieron lining up his cannon shot, but he fails to wound, rolling strength 2.
  
  
  
  
  
  Jumping ahead because I didn't take enough pictures, the crypt horrors charged the doomwheel, broke it and pursued into the plague monks. The doomwheel just touched the table edge after popping out behind the clanrats, then in his turn I got EXTREMELY lucky, beating the monks in combat by 1. He then failed re-rollable LD 8 break test, rolled 6 to flee and I caught him, overrunning the horrors to just in front of the clanrat bunker. They then charged on my turn but failed to break them after killing a few clanrats, and were then destroyed by the bell unit.
  
  
  
  Apart from finally killing the hellpit, not a lot else happened until turn 5. I cleared up his rat swarms and slaves and made my way forward. Shooting and magic was uneventful for most of the game, he was out of range and I got shut down without a level 4 wizard.
  
  
  TURN 5
  
  
  All went wrong for me here, I stopped taking pictures and donned the rage face. Terrorgheist: shot by cannon. Skeleton bus: decimated by dreaded 13th (he miscast twice this game, doing virtually no damage to himself but dominating magic phases). Ghouls, spirit host: eaten by the hellpit.
  
  
  The grave guard finished the hellpit only to take a another dreaded 13th on turn 6, leaving me with the character and one grave guard.
  
  
  The skeleton bus still had the vampire, wight king and necromancer, so I thought I would try for the cannon or bunker since by now I was across the board. This was stupid, because I let myself get seen and charged by the bell unit. I would have been confident to stay on the board as it was turn 6, except he got death frenzy off in the magic phase, then rolled a 13 when ringing the screaming bell.
  
  
  For those unfamiliar, this means every stormvermin in the unt gets to fight, and counts as being in base to base contact with my skeleton unit, giving him some 50+ attacks. I conceded, the vampire could survive the attacks but would be crumbled away, leaving me with just my hero vamp and the grave guard on the table. Victory points wise he'd have beaten me by at least 2000 points but we didn't bother to count, I conceded for the 20-0.
  
  
  It was a brilliant, if frustrating game. Skaven are a very tough match up and I got outplayed in deployment to boot. I'll have to remember to take more pictures next time!