A week ago I went to my first warmaster tournament. SunCon II in Stenungsund on Swedens west coast. I met the host and organizer during the first battle. He has done a report of that game that you can find here.
I had tried to prepare as much as I could before the tournament. I had listned to most of the warmaster podcast episodes, seen or read as many battle reports as I could find of decent quality and going into the tournament I felt like I at least had a good basic understanding of the game mechanics. Consequently I didn't feel completely lost but still being such a noob I set my goal to be to not loose all games.
As you might have read from the above linked report (spoiler alert) I won the first game. With that I had already achieved my goal. I didn't feel any more confident after the win though, felt like Dwarfs were a good matchup for my rats, being only infantry and few in number. They couldn't really outflank me so I wrote that win down to the match up and beginners luck and didn't really think much of it.
However I still felt some hope of not losing going into this, the second, game rather than the first. This time my opponent was the other noob of the tournament. At the same time though he was fielding a cavalry heavy list with two units of elephants, which seemed like a big concern to me so I was unsure of my chances.
The lists were:
Skaven:
However I still felt some hope of not losing going into this, the second, game rather than the first. This time my opponent was the other noob of the tournament. At the same time though he was fielding a cavalry heavy list with two units of elephants, which seemed like a big concern to me so I was unsure of my chances.
The lists were:
Skaven:
Skaven, 2000 points
Warmaster Revolution
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440 - 11 Clanrats
220 - 4 Stormvermin
210 - 3 Plague Monks
100 - 4 Rat Swarms
70 - 1 Gutter Runners
220 - 2 Rat Ogres
100 - 2 Warp Lightning Cannon
125 - 1 Doom Wheel
125 - 1 Screaming Bell
160 - 1 Grey Seer
- 1 Scroll of Dispelling (20)
140 - 2 Hero
90 - 2 Warlock
- 1 Ring of Magic (30)
- 1 Wand of Power (10)
--------------------------------
2000 - 29/15
Araby:
Araby, 1995 points
Warmaster Revolution
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180 - 4 Spearmen
220 - 4 Bowmen
260 - 4 Guards
440 - 4 Knights
200 - 2 Camel Riders
400 - 2 Elephants
125 - 1 General
80 - 1 Hero
90 - 2 Wizard
--------------------------------
1995 - 20/10
Deployment:
I lost the scouting roll as I did in every game (I had zero scouting points). We played a scenario that was all about holding the middle (found here). I deployed in three brigades. A big one in the middle with the bell. Monks to the front. Two flanking brigades with rat ogres leading.
The first picture shows my deployment and araby's first few turn one moves. The general and hero on araby's left flank could generally get their orders through. But the right flank camels and knights were commanded by a wizard, who seemed rather incompetent at giving orders as the flank mostly stayed put. A mirrage unit was conjured in front of of the hills to stop me from moving there easily.
I answered by moving as many rats forward as I could. Getting two orders of on the central brigade. I would have preferred to stay on the hill, but that would mean giving up scenario points. I resigned my self to the fact that I would have to take the elephant charge or loose on the scenario and moved over and beyond the hill. I chose not to go within initiative range of the elephants however. My flanking brigades were commanded by my underlings and they seemed more hestitant to move forward and lagged a bit.
Second turn saw araby generally unable to make more than one order per brigade and crucially was not able to make the second charge order on the elephants. The left flank knights moved up on the hill but were likewise unable to get a charge of or perhaps my opponent were unwilling to move them in alone. The araby guard brigade moved up the center to control the objective and support the elephants. The right flank was still dealing with confusion over orders however and the cavalry was staying put. The next pictures shows the end of araby's turn
I answered by moving as many rats forward as I could. Getting two orders of on the central brigade. I would have preferred to stay on the hill, but that would mean giving up scenario points. I resigned my self to the fact that I would have to take the elephant charge or loose on the scenario and moved over and beyond the hill. I chose not to go within initiative range of the elephants however. My flanking brigades were commanded by my underlings and they seemed more hestitant to move forward and lagged a bit.
Second turn saw araby generally unable to make more than one order per brigade and crucially was not able to make the second charge order on the elephants. The left flank knights moved up on the hill but were likewise unable to get a charge of or perhaps my opponent were unwilling to move them in alone. The araby guard brigade moved up the center to control the objective and support the elephants. The right flank was still dealing with confusion over orders however and the cavalry was staying put. The next pictures shows the end of araby's turn
This crucially made me able to charge the elephants instead of getting charged. Not that I had any choice I was leading the central brigade with plague monks who being frenzied were forced to initiative charge and as a nice bonus didn't care at all about terror. I ring of magic'ed death frenzy for 11 extra attacks into the combat and were over two rounds of combat able to kill one elephant unit and take a stand of the second one. I lost a bunch of monks of course but was very happy with the trade.
Some good orders saw me getting to engage one of the knight units as well with the third plague monk unit. I forced them back but was only able to take a stand off. Loosing one stand in return. Threatening the other unit with the rat ogre brigade thinking they should with support be able to take the charge of just the one knight unit.
The battle raged on and araby pushed the guard and central spearmen units forward into the central combat to support the remaining elephants.
(araby guard units moving in).
It became a meat grinder in the middle. I was able to take one more elephant stand out and the guards also started taking some losses, but I was running out of disposable rats as the araby infantry together with the big animals put in some good work.
Thankfully I was able to take the middlemost knight unit out with a countercharge in their flank with my death wheel. The other knight unit were able to kill my ogres (or perhaps one stand survived), but fell in return to the massed rats behind them with storm vermin leading that counter push and again helped by the death frenzy spell. This made more rats available and I started to turn them back into the middle.
I also tried to engage the spearmen infantry in the village with my left flank ogres. I bounced in a drawn combat with neither side loosing any stands after which I gave up on that idea realizing I could achieve 10 break with just the opposing units in the middle.
Thankfully I was able to take the middlemost knight unit out with a countercharge in their flank with my death wheel. The other knight unit were able to kill my ogres (or perhaps one stand survived), but fell in return to the massed rats behind them with storm vermin leading that counter push and again helped by the death frenzy spell. This made more rats available and I started to turn them back into the middle.
I also tried to engage the spearmen infantry in the village with my left flank ogres. I bounced in a drawn combat with neither side loosing any stands after which I gave up on that idea realizing I could achieve 10 break with just the opposing units in the middle.
(the rat line starts to become thin in the middle)
The battle continued but the knights and camels on the araby right flank still refused to join. Probably scared after seeing their comrades charge into the sea of rats and then disappear.
The last elephant went down and the guards although tenacious were in the end slaughtered when the middle combat continued over a few combat phases and I was able to charge them in the flank with the now freed up reserves. Another death frenzy or two was involved.
When the last spearmen unit fell araby reached 10 break points and the army broke leaving the field of battle to the victorious rats. I my self had lost somewhere between 7 to 9 break points, so felt quite comfortable with that but at the same time had only 6 minutes left on my clock.
That gave me my second win of the tournament leaving me very happy but also baffled how did that happen?
Some post battle thoughts when I try to analyze the game is that I think my opponent made some mistakes with the elephants which helped me a lot. For instance moving them forward rather alone against most of my line and then also to point them at my monks that don't care about terror and have high numbers of attacks.
Some crucial dice rolls were in my favor as well which helped like the failed elephant charge. Or like the araby left flank camels refusing to take orders when they were needed to support the knights.
There were also obviously dice involved in araby's right flank and I didn't have to face or deal with half of the opposing cavalry. At the same time though they were commanded by a wizard which I think was a deployment or perhaps list design flaw.
And lastly I think I got four death frenzy spells through this game, none of which hit my self. It's a tremendous boost that swings a combat in favor of the rats, sometimes heavily so.
The last elephant went down and the guards although tenacious were in the end slaughtered when the middle combat continued over a few combat phases and I was able to charge them in the flank with the now freed up reserves. Another death frenzy or two was involved.
When the last spearmen unit fell araby reached 10 break points and the army broke leaving the field of battle to the victorious rats. I my self had lost somewhere between 7 to 9 break points, so felt quite comfortable with that but at the same time had only 6 minutes left on my clock.
(after action picture)
That gave me my second win of the tournament leaving me very happy but also baffled how did that happen?
Some post battle thoughts when I try to analyze the game is that I think my opponent made some mistakes with the elephants which helped me a lot. For instance moving them forward rather alone against most of my line and then also to point them at my monks that don't care about terror and have high numbers of attacks.
Some crucial dice rolls were in my favor as well which helped like the failed elephant charge. Or like the araby left flank camels refusing to take orders when they were needed to support the knights.
There were also obviously dice involved in araby's right flank and I didn't have to face or deal with half of the opposing cavalry. At the same time though they were commanded by a wizard which I think was a deployment or perhaps list design flaw.
And lastly I think I got four death frenzy spells through this game, none of which hit my self. It's a tremendous boost that swings a combat in favor of the rats, sometimes heavily so.
You assume I was aware of which rats were which. All I saw was the mother of all brigades taking up half the table, aimed at the objective zone. /aniron
SvaraRadera