Minty Rides Again (or the Curious Case of The Trans-Specied Dragon Ogre).

Last week a game of Age of Sigmar was enacted by myself, Pat and Vinny. Here is the report about it.

But First, An Apology

Firstly before I get to the hacking and slashing of the battle report I have to apologise for some of the shoddy camera work of yours truly. In my eagerness to play, I did very little reviewing of the pictures until 2 days later so lighting is poor and many pictures were unusable due to the piece of paper I was using to cut out glare also put large squares of shadow all over the shop.

On the plus side I had Aaron writing notes for a lot of the game so a lot of details were caught as opposed to me forgetting pertinent stuff.

The Armies

Three members of *C.L.A.W. showed up to play Age of Sigmar. I took a **suitcase full of Wood Elves, Vinny brought his Undead horde and Pat brought his small but deadly Warriors of Chaos. 

I decided to take the following: Elf Lord on Dragon (Minty), mounted spellweaver, Branchwraith, 10 Wild Riders, 10 waywatchers, 10 Dryads and 5 sisters of The Thorn. Vinny took a Vampire Lord, a Necromancer, A Wight King BSB (or whatever they're calling themselves in AoS), 3 Vargeists, 3 Crypt horrors, 10 Grave Guard, 30 zombies, Corpse Cart and a Terrorgheist. Pat arrived with a Mounted Chaos Lord, 2 chaos sorcerors with a familiar each, 10 Chaos warriors, 3 Skullcrushers, 3 Dragon Ogres and a Chimera. All told the armies were approximately 100 wounds each. 

The Cast

Jason - Elven Hero.

Vinny - Pale Undead Monster.

Pat - Twisted parody of a human.

Aaron - Hunched Scribe.

Stuart - Age of Sigmar Skeptic.

Phil - Null Zone of 6's.

Set Up

Chaos Deployment

Undead Deployment

Elven Deployment

Turn One

I won the roll for initiative and got the first turn. In the hero phase my Branchwraith cast Mystic Shield on the Treeman as I thought a 3+ armour save was a bit crap. My wizard cast the same spell on the dragon, Coupled with his command ability of rerolling ones in combat it made him a very unattractive target for my opponents. I advanced most of my stuff fairly carefully (or in Aaron's notes - wimps). My only offensive act was to ***double tap with my Waywatchers on the nearest chaos chariot taking 3 wounds. So at the end of my turn I had advanced well within the threat rage of the chaos forces.

After Elf and Undead turns

Vinny's hero phase saw him use Blood Feast on the Vargheists (giving them an extra attack on each weapon). The Necromancer summoned 3 ****"Spikey Ghouls".  The terrorgheist moves towards the Wild riders hoping to give hot screamy death to them. The Crypt Horrors take up position in the centre of the board. The Graveguard shuffle forward 8" as they rattle their bnes to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Crypt horrors.  The zombies advance forward in an uneven semi circle (Vinny wholeheartedly got behind the lack of ranked up units. The Vargheists move towards the Chaos warriors. The Terrorgheist shrieks like a girl at the Wild Riders doing no damage. At this point, the Terrorgheist realised, he fucked up........  The Vargheists charge the chaos warriors , the Terrorgheist also decides to charge the Wild Riders but decides against it when he rolls 3" for his charge range. The Vargheist's attempt to muller the Chaos Warriors causing 6 wounds (3 warriors) then in return a Vargheist is swatted like a bug and no one gives a monkey's about BATTLESHOCK™.

In 8th Ed, a nightmare Flanking

In Pat's hero phase he used his  general's command ability to make sure his Chaos Warriors didn't take BATTLESHOCK™ tests for the turn. The BSB plants his standard in the dirt to anable rerolls for charges (and claiming the table end for chaos). ***** The next few minutes consist of rules debates and misunderstanding. Mystic bolt takes 3 mortal wounds off the Vargheists. The Juggernauts advance towards the crypt ghouls. The Dragon Ogres advance towards the middle ground between elf and zombie. The chariot's Don't Spare The Lash rules gets them moving 14" and 11" towards me (eek). The Sorceror advances but stays within range of the Arcane hill (with his look out sir dog familiar staying close - Sorceror's true best friend). In Pat's shooting phase (I'm generally against all shooting phases except elven ones) his other sorceror fails to kill the last Vargheist. The Chimera then does a number on my Treeman with his smelly breath causing 5 mortal wounds. I found this particularly annoying as he has a 2+ armour save than availed him naught! In the running towards the enemy with fire in their eyes and lead in their belly phase, the Juggernauts hit the Crypt Horrors, a chariot charges the Waywatchers, whilst the Chimera and Chariot decide to sit this one out with low charge rolls. In combat a Crypt horror is Juggernauted to death and another takes a wound. The Vargheists remember to frenzy and then do nothing in combat, the Chaos Warriors then kill the last Vargheist. The Waywatcher/Chariot ruck causes one wound on the Chariot and 4 elves to either die or BATTLESHOCK™ it.

Vinny's zombies embrace their new found freedom of movement

Turn Two

Once again I win the initiative roll (yay me), Pat second, Vinny brings up the rear. My Dragonlord uses his command ability to reroll 1's in combat (to hit and wound anyway). Mystic Shield fails. My Spellcaster gets all Necromancery and summons 3 Waywatchers back from the grave, or at least from the figure case. I stroll my Waywatchers out of combat with the Chariot (with a nyah nyah probably). Dragon, Dryads and Spellweaver advance towards chaos whilst the Wild Riders and Sisters of the Thorn go towards the Undead. The Sisters wound the Crypt Horrors with Blackbriar Javelins. The Waywatchers double tap the Chariot to death. Strangleroots fails to damage the Chimera. In the charge phase, Wild riders go for the Terrorgheist, the Dryads charge the Chariot whilst the Treeman and Minty decide to tag team the Chimera. The Treeman causes 4 wounds on the Chimera. The Terrorgheist kills two Wild Riders. The Chimera then takes a wound off the Treeman leaving him with 3 left. In return the Dragon narrowly fails to finish the Chimera off. The Dryads cause 2 wounds on the Chariot but lose the combat.

The Sinister Darkness Hides a Terrorgheist!

Chimera vs Dragon & Chariot vs Dryad Scrap

Wild Riders are not what they were in 8th

Pat uses his Knights of Chaos command ability on the Chariot. Arcane Bolt takes a wound off the Treeman. The Chimera breathes another wound off it. The Chaos Lord charges in to combat hoping - presumably- to get a nice big dragon skull for you-know-who's throne. Also the Dragon Ogres bowl in to the exciting bundle going on too.  In combat the Chimera does one more wound on the Treeman. Minty aided but the little fella on top kill the shit out of the Chaos lord (that'll learn 'im). Dryads cause 3 wound on the Chariot. The Dragon Ogres get the Treeman down to 2 wounds. The Dryads get wiped out by the Chariot. BATTLESHOCK™ is not a factor in this turn.

In Vinny's turn we get to find out just how bad a Vampire is and just how good Zombies are! As my scribe went home I have no notes on what Vinny did in his hero phase, but summoning he did buff the Zombies (+1 A) to unpleasant proportions. The forces of undeath move forward merrily (as they always do) to play practical jokes and sing ribald songs - or whatever it is they do. The Zombies charge the Dragon Ogres and the Crypt horrors go at it with the Sisters. The Vampire also charges in to try to save the Crypy Horror battling the ******Skullcrushers. The Grave Guard fail a charge on the Sisters and end up looking sullenly at the ensuing combat. In the combat phase something terrifying and at the same time wonderful happened, the Zombies caused 14 wounds on the Dragon Ogres, unsurprisingly killing them, then one of the dead dragon Ogres miraculously came back as a Zombie! The Wild Riders get the Terrorgheist down to 1 wound and the final Crypt Horror fighting the Skullcrushers dies.

The Blender Zombies Advance!

A Shadow Falls over the Grave Guard

Disappearing Dragon Ogres

Turn Three

The initiative roll roll is rolled and I win again! Pat next, Vinny last. In the hero phase I cast mystic shield on the Sisters and the now clinging to life by a thread Treeman. By this time it's getting late so we've already decided this will be the last turn. A total brainfart on my part makes me completely forget about my Wild Riders who could very probably get into combat with the Crypt Horrors beating up my Sisters of The Thorn. I shoot a few Zombies (simply to try to even out the playing field - I thought Vinny was at this stage ahead so it was time to try to drag him back into the mud). In combat Minty kills the troublesome Chimera. Minty is now sitting in a pile of Chimera gore waiting to see if anyone wants to come and play with her*******. It is, I'm pretty sure the turn the Treeman carks it, but I can't find in my notes who the culprit is. Ah well, I'm sure it was an heroic end.

Chaos Warriors come to save Minty's bacon (unintentionally I bet).

In Pat's turn he casts a spell (Bolt of Change) to turn a Zombie into a Chaos Spawn. I am sure it was the Zombie that was previously the Dragon Ogre. So Graknark (or whatever his name is) after living for thousands of years as a big burly Dragon Ogre decides that Zombification is for him, spends a short unhappy time as a Zombie then leaps at the chance of being a Chaos Spawn instead! The Chaos Warriors, and BSB pile into the Zombies to give them a kicking. This combat is convoluted and ends up a stalemate. Elsewhere on the battlefield the Vampire finds out that he's really not all that and takes a wound from the Skullcrushers, causing none in return.

Free Chaos Spawn!

Minty tries to look inconspicuous!

The Unblender Vampire vs Skullcrushers

In Vinny's hero phase the Unblender Vampire casts Spirit Blight on the Skullcrushers. He then summons a Terrorgheist (on an eleven I think). The Grave Guard who had spent the last 2 turns in a state of indecision charge into the Sisters of The Thorn. In combat the Chaos Spawn that was a Zombie that was a Dragon Ogre is killed again and is reanimated as a Zombie again! The large combat with the Chaos Warriors ends up a stalemate again -  Zombies are pretty much immune to BATTLESHOCK™  and the Warriors didn't take enough casualties to be effected by it. Vinny's Vampire makes ********3 saves on his last wound to stay in the land of the unliving in the Skullcrusher combat. The Sisters of The Thorn are wiped out.

The continuing Chaos Warrior/Zombie tete a tete

Wizards relaxing in the woods

Where's my 4+ Ward Save? Where?

Free Terrorgheist!

We then have to total up casualties and work out who won. Games Workshop have cleverly made a much simplified game whereby the complexities of the game have shifted somewhat to finding out who wins the game. If there is no obvious winner then we go by the percentage of models lost. As you don't count models summoned in game as part of the original number but count them as part of the casualty percentage there is a certain amount of bookkeeping involved. So wind speeds were checked, as were humidity levels and so was my astrological charts. The final votes were in the the scores on the doors are:

Jason 54% lost,

Pat 56% lost,

Vinny 49% lost.

A win for Vinny albeit not a crushing one.

Conclusion

Well, I enjoyed that game, but it wasn't an accurate representation as I find when you're playing against two opponents both have to be considered in your movement phase and that leads to a more conservative style of play. I learnt a bit about the importance of sequencing your close combat attacks and other tactical aspects of the game. My failure to move the Wild Riders may have been influenced by my 8th edition habits of not considering models behind me as targets. It is also possible that if I had gotten them into combat with either the Crypt Horrors or Grave Guard, then it could have swung the kill ratio in my favour. I also learnt other things.  For example the correct use of a light diffuser(?) would have made my photos much better. It is also imperative that you have some form of a plan - there are strategies despite what you hear on the forums. Simply mashing your stuff into your opponents just isn't enough. So until next time when I write up my next battle report against Donal's Empire army - I also have a bit of a plan - Thanks for reading!

Upside-Down Chaos Warrior on the ceiling watches impassively

*Cavan Longford Associated Wargamers!
** Interestingly the order of placing models and the ability to stop placing stuff is one of the tactical considerations of the new game.
***I completely forgot for every to hit roll of a 6 with the Waywatchers I got another shot! Probably missed out on a couple of wounds, this may (or may not) have altered the games result drastically.
****Anything written in yellow denotes Aaron's comments.
***** Can't remember why, probably about who gets to attack, and when in a 3 way.
****** In AoS the world is turned upside down.
******* Yes I've decided she's a she.
******** This is probably due to Phil - host of the game - who has ungodly dice probability manipulation powers. He'd been playing Warmachine earlier so he couldn't interfere with our game until near the end.