NicoLab

Game 1: Kunning Rukk 

I was hoping for a soft start to the tournament as I really didn't want to be pushed to qualify like at Heat 1. Naturally I got 40 Arrers and 2 Stonelords for Game 1.

The Battleplan was 3 Places of Power which was not ideal for my list.

Deployment

I deployed 10 Clanrats on my right - this pulled his first Stonelord out to that side, where it would struggle to connect with my army turn one.

I then bunkered in the middle with my Verminlord at the front. I expected my opponent to give me turn one, whereupon I would lob the Clanrats in, and block the Stonelord charge and gradually grind them out and pin the Arrers out or range of the rest of my army. After a lot of thought, he took the turn.

This was good in a sense, as he had deployed the arrers as if he was going second (i.e. behind a wall of chaff), which reduced the damage output for turn one.

Turn One

The Stonelord brewed up and made its charge. The Arrers didn't move very far and took 4 wounds off the Verminlord. The other Stonelord stayed back. on the right objective. The Clanrats did a wound in return.

The Stonelord made the charge and proceeded to delete the Verminlord and some Clanrats.

In response I planned to Sayl the Clanrats forward - using their retreat and charge ability and get them into the Arrers. In fact, Sayl failed to roll a 6 on 3 dice. I was not happy. Instead, the Clanrats went for a retreat charge into the Stonelord. Archaon and Clanrats moved up on the right - the Clanrats shielding Archaon.

There was no where to summon the Herald to and Archaon failed mystic shield. The buffs went on the 20 Stormvermin, who prepared to charge the Stonelord. Sayl did his once per game zap attack in the shooting phase, which chipped off another 2 wounds.

The Stormvermin made it in and narrowly killed the Stonelord.

Archaon charged into a unit of Boyz and derped his attacks, the Clanrats shielded him from the Stonelord. The Clanrats started to chew through the Boyz as well.

My other heroes nudged forward, as they would be needed to score.

Ominously, Destruction won the initiative, so his gamble paid off.

Battleround 2

The Arrers shot at the Stormvermin and dented them significantly. The Stonelord and Megaboss went into the Clanrats. This was worrying as the Megaboss could potentially clear them out of the way only for the Stonelord to bury Archaon.

The grind continued in the middle. However, before getting to the Megaboss I spotted an out for Archaon. He wasn't base to base with the two Boyz in front of him and so he could orbit around him and then touch base - putting him out of range of the Stonelord and also getting him into range of the Arrer Boyz.

This saved the game for me.

Thereafter my heroes came in for the Arrerboyz, while Tretch and the second Warlord went off to the left objective. The Herald came on and did some damage to the Stonelord. Sayl did some reasonable melee damage in the centre, but the 10 Stormvermin initially failed to kill the Shaman. The buffed Stormvermin rolled well and deleted the Stonelord and the Megaboss in one stroke!

While the Destruction player had amassed a fair lead. I now proceeded to score points on all 3 objectives for the rest of the game. Ultimately I tabled him. Relief after an edgy start.

With a Major and 2,000 points in the bag (never got that in game one before) would I manage to reach the lofty heights of the Livestream?

Edited July 7, 2017 by Nico

Game 2: Juggernauts - easy pickings

For my second game on Table 4, I somehow dodged KO and DoT and ended up against Khorne. I felt increasingly confident when reading the list - loads of Juggernauts. I knew full well how abysmal their melee damage was. My melee combos were stronger than Khorne's and I had the Bloodwarrior buff to boot.

Deployment

I deployed between some buildings, with a view to funneling the Khorne forces to reduce how many could attack. I left minimal forces on the flanks. The Battleplan was Escalation, so my Verminlord was pinned back.

The Juggs bunched up on the right, all 12 of them.

Turn One

Slavek had a bunch of Battalions, so he could pick and decided to go first. He did some movement and tried to charge my line of two units of 10 Clanrats, but largely failed. His unit of 3 Juggs made it in and popped 10 Clanrats. i took some wounds off a Jugg in exchange. Slavek gained a Blood Tithe point.

In response, Sayl cast his spell in order to fish out the first Brazen Rune. Archaon cast his summoning spell to fish out the second. Death Frenzy was cast. The 40 Clanrats took the buffs and prepared to wreck face - they retreated from the 3 Juggs to engage the line of units behind. To my horror they double oned the charge.

Turn Two

Thankfully I won the initiative at least, however, this time I failed Sayl's cast roll; and more importantly failed to cast Death Frenzy.

I summoned on a Herald of Tzeentch, who proceeded to nuke the Bloodsecrator (oddly not planted) with Pink Fire.

The Clanrats went in - however, I weighted them too heavily towards the Bloodletters (instinctive fear of these) and not enough on the Juggs - I had hoped to get the 20 Stormvermin into the Juggs as well.

I rolled an 11 for the charge, which allowed me to reach around the Letters and kill Skulltaker, who was chilling at the back. All 30 Letters were shredded. I also killed two Juggs (who had +1 save). However, the Stormvermin failed their charge.

In response, Slavek unleashed his Slaughterpriests on the Stormvermin, 3 rerollable D6 mortal wounds is disgusting! He charged my 10 Stormvermin on the right flank with 3 Juggs and 5 Bloodwarriors - I was stupid for sending them this way - even if I scored a point as a result.

The Juggerlord charged in too and did some mortal wounds on both the Clanrats and the Stormvermin - it's brutal that it's every enemy unit within range.

The Clanrats started dying in droves (with no Death Frenzy). My Stormvermin did 4 wounds on the Lord. Then the Lord shredded more Stormvermin, which eventually popped. The Juggs killed off the 10 Stormvermin as well.

Turn 3

I won the initiative. Archaon was moving on the left flank to go and beat up 20 Bloodreavers, with 10 Clanrats in support. With my centre shattered, I buffed up the Verminlord, who went into the Juggs in the centre, along with a Warlord. The other Warlord Sayled over to engage a pair of Slaughterpriests.

The Verminlord was unlucky to only kill 2 Juggies. The Warlord failed to take out a Slaughterpriest. Slavek pinned Archaon with a pile in, which stopped him getting to the second unit of Reavers. Archaon derped again and failed to kill the Reavers (who didn't have Battleshock immunity).

In response, the Slaughterpriests killed a Warlord; and the Juggerlord and the other unit of Juggs slammed into the Verminlord and the Warlord, doing a tonne of wounds. The Verminlord went down to mortal wounds, rather than in combat (which would allow him to attack); and Slavek healed his whole army.

Archaon still couldn't grab back the left objective (although I held the centre by a rat's whisker).

Turn 4

Slavek won the turn and mopped up my centre. 

I had a newfound respect for Khorne and for Juggs in particular.

The failed cast on Death Frenzy was absolutely huge in hindsight as were the early failed charges. I can see the Prayers getting Rule of Oned very soon.

 

 

 

 

Game 3 - FEC

After a disappointing defeat (my combo is stronger than any melee army with the possible exception of Tomb Kings), I was hoping for a win to all but ensure qualification.

Thankfully I got a perfect match up - FEC on Border War - Ghoul Patrol!

It was pretty much text book, my opponent took turn one and surged forward in a line of MSU. I lobbed out the Clanrats -  again Death Frenzy failed. However, the haul of damage was horrific - they took out a unit of 6 Horrors and 2 Units of 3 Flayers. After that it was rinse and repeat. The Stormvermin went left and killed the Terrorgheist. Then it was mopping up. 

My opponent's list was pretty soft - MSU and melee doesn't work (except possibly for Khorne due to Blood Tithe). It was gorgeously painted, with a cool Flayed man theme - Boltons!

 

Game 4 - High Aelves

Game 4 was decidedly more challenging. I faced 4 Bolt throwers and a couple of units of Waywatchers, together with undercosted (comes back for free) Tyrion and a Dragonlord, plus a Loremaster and 2 Spellweavers.

I knew my opponent was a strong one as well. He deployed pretty well - resisting the magnet on the 12" line. This meant I had to do something inventive.

Turn One

I had fewer drops for a change and so I opted to go first. I deployed Archaon 36" away from the crew of one Bolt Thrower and just behind the 40 Clanrats on my 12" line.

I cast Sayl's spell and Death Frenzy and buffed up the Clanrats. Now for the ploy. Archaon attempted to summon a Balewind. This would not only nudge the Clanrats in front of him forward some 6" or so, but it would also allow me to summon on a Herald to zap some crew or use Arcane Bolt for the same.

Naturally, Archaon derped and failed the cast. Thereafter, I ran him away.

The Clanrats also failed what was a 9" charge.

The response was painful. The Bolt Throwers shot off the Verminlord as is traditional. They also killed about 5 rats. However, Tyrion and the Mystic Shielded Dragon came out to play with the rats. The Dragon chomped through 18 Clanrats, however, 10 of them piled into the Dragon on Death, while 8 went for Tyrion. Even with their great saves, the Dragon took 8 wounds and Tyrion died and then rolled a 1! Boom!

Turn Two

I lost the initiative and the wave of fire continued. Archaon died to my horror as did one of the Warlords. The Dragon limped back to its lines and breathed on the Clanrats. About 10 of them survived. The 20 Glade Guard moved off the far right objective into the centre. 

In my turn, the Clanrats went for the cheeky boltthrower which had shot around the edge of a building to kill my Warlord. The other Warlord started running quickly for the far left objective. I decided not to use Sayl's speed spell, so instead he summoned on the Herald, which proceeded to nuke the Dragon. The Clanrats bossed the crew of the left Boltthrower, while the 10 Stormvermin in the middle made a decent charge and piled in to kill one of the Spellweavers and damage the Boltthrower. I lost 3 in return.

Having felt very nervous about how the game was going, I suddenly realised that if I won the initiative, then sent my 20 Stormvermin right to swamp Alith Anar and retreated the Stormvermin in his lines onto the far right objective, then I would immediately win a major. I probably could have achieved the same result by killing all his stuff, but this would be far quicker.

Turn Three

I won the initiative and that was that - Major Victory. I outnumbered him 7 models to 6 on the far right objective! Moving forward with the Glade Guard proved to be a costly error. I still got 920 kill points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2017 by Nico

Game 5

Game 5 was almost a repeat of Game 3 - a relatively formulaic game against an MSU Ironjawz army. The only way I would lose would be if I failed key cast rolls.

My opponent had an awesomely painted and nominated Ironjawz Army:

Turn One

He took turn one and managed to get his big unit of Ardboyz in turn one.

Again the two units of 10 Chaffrats did their job by blocking and dying, then Archaon Derped, true to form. At least he managed to stay in cover, which would keep him alive.

Then it was my turn - and what a turn. 

This time both spells went off and Archaon even summoned a Herald, although he ended up at the back of the board due to the 9" rule.

The 40 Clanrats retreated, flew and charged into 3 units of Brutes plus the Megaboss and a Warchanter. Meanwhile the 30 Stormvermin and a Warlord went into the Ardboyz. Sayl blasted them for good measure.

The Clanrats immediately killed the Megaboss and two units of Brutes. The Ardboyz didn't do much as their damage was split up between multiple targets. Archaon derped again, although Dorghar took out a Boy.

Then the Brutes started activating and a horror show it was too. As the Clanrats started dropping, the dying models took out the Warchanter and eventually left only 4 Brutes alive from 20. Horrific!

The Stormvermin chopped away and evenutally 12 or so Ardboyz were dead. Battleshock wiped the unit although none of the Brutes fled.

Megaboss, Warchanter and 16 Brutes killed by 240 points of Clanrats. 

Battleround Two

I won the initiative and completed the job. The Stormvermin flooded the Maw Krusha and the Verminlord went into the Brutes. With their remaining 20 models, the Clanrats charged the Weirdnob Shaman.

The Brutes hacked about 6 wounds off the Verminlord, but the everything in the middle died. 

To my surprise, my opponent elected not to go for the hail mary pass of Foot of Gork on the Stormvermin. The Clanrats completed the job.

This was my fourth Major and the third one with 2,000 points killed. 

He got my favourite player vote for taking a crushing 2 battleround tabling with grace.

 

Final results

I came 6th and was the Best Chaos - take that Skyfires - probably my best tournament result to date (I managed 4th at SELWG Smash)! I was admittedly fortunate with my match ups - avoiding some of the worrying filth.

I got 4 Majors and a Major Loss, together with 8,260 kill points.

Very pleasingly given only two clubmates could make it, we came 5th and 6th! Ben also got a painting nomination! Hobby Hero!

Excellent battle reports, thanks a lot for the exciting descriptions! Well done, a truly well performance indeed !

Amazing work, Nick. Great write-ups.

Nico! Your write-ups are amazing and truly inspiring! Thanks for taking the time to do this, it's both helpful and enjoyable. You and I had a conversation about which Verminlord I should build, and after much thought, I went with the Deceiver. Many regrets on my part haha! Great model, but I love this list of yours and would love to do a similar spinoff of it. 

Keep up the good work man, and good job on that stellar top finish!

Did you see much of the FOTM filth on the tables? Get the impression H3 was a bit more laid back than H1 or SCGT.

Nice reports as usual, cheers.

There were plenty of strong lists out there, perhaps fewer "big names" were there as many had already qualified.

There were plenty of Skyfires about, but not many lists with 18 or 27. I gather Joe's 27 bumped into a Khorne army and got flooded with bodies and ground down.

The KO were out in force and seemed to do very well. Ziflin reminds me of Clan Skryre in some ways.

The Kroak list was rampaging on the top tables too. 

Perhaps fewer Mixed Destruction Filth lists than normal. Two Ironjawz armies were playing in the top 5 tables in the last round, which is noteworthy.

I think it's a big positive for the game that some high body count Khorne lists trumped the new shiny pew pew filth in some games. Then there were the Squigs of course.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Nico