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Day One - Game One

After a practice game vs the delightful George’s Beastclaw Army on the Friday we rocked up early for Game One against Joe Carr’s Hammerstrike Force. Significantly the FAQ for the event made this a true setup rule so they could setup directly into combat (I believe this is correct as no rule should be both a move and a setup). This made my Aetherwings pretty redundant as they could not block this. I did wonder whether they could fly over on the enemy’s charge phase and touch the back of the Retributors to hinder their pile ins (as each model must  pile in towards the nearest model).

Deployment

I bunkered with the 30 Vulkites and tunnelled the Magmadroth instead (as he can pop up and then use his “Once per game” ability as it’s not limited to my hero phase. I was near Mystical but didn’t have much of an effect in the game - it’s pretty useless for Fyreslayers as they have ample reroll wounds anyway.

Joe deployed opposite me in a bubble. Throughout the game his zoning off of territory was great - I was never able to get good spots to drop in my 30 blocks.

Joe picked the 4 Quarters Battleplan (the easiest one), while I went for killing 3 Battleline).

Battleround One

Joe chose to go first from memory. He went for it. Smashing in 15 Paladins. 

I saved the shot from the Venator (or maybe he just did the Regular shots). The Paladins rolled badly and bounced - only killing a handful of Vulkites (and I had my Battleshock immunity aura) even before I could trigger Reroll Saves from the Battlesmith. 

Unfortunately for Joe I remembered a Triumph roll and got Saves, which I could immediately use. In the combat phase.

I would say that Joe was too defensive with his general. He needed Staunch Defender on his Paladins, even if this would require tailing back. He could have dropped him in behind with Liberators as a Shield behind (but I guess this would require a 3+ Roll and would cost him Battleshock immunity).

I started the grind, killing a few Paladins in response.

In my turn, I picked the extra 8” throwing axe range and may even have rolled a 6 for the extra buff. 

I got the Reroll Saves Up . The Runemaster tried his Volcano ability on the Heraldor (fighting fire with fire - the two scenery attack heroes). Spoiler - the Runemaster is garbage except for having 6 Wounds.

I tunnelled up 30 Vulkites and the Magmadroth but left the Aurics off the table.

I popped the reroll wounds bubble just catching both units of Vulkites.

The axes weren’t very effective against Liberators (with Staunch and Lantern).

In the charge phase I managed to roll a (1, 2) charge so the reroll couldn’t help. This was the start of a pattern for 9” charges. The Paladins were melting away while the Vulkites stood firm. The Raptors did solid damage against the Retributors.

Battleround 2

The comet came down on the far right. I won the initiative and tightened the net. I hit the rend Rune, so the Vulkites would have -2 rend. The Magmadroth went off right to grab it, but fell short.

The Vulkites in Joe’s deployment area  made their charge and swamped the Castellant and the Lord Celestant on Dracoth. I dumped 30 shields into him, dropping 4 wounds. Unfortunately the LCoD survived with a wound left.

I rolled badly for the home Vulkites (4+, 4+ rerollable is still pretty swingy), so the Paladins clung on. My champions sucked all weekend. Damned terrain would be mental on Vulkites.

In response, Joe brought down 10 Liberators to my left (where I couldn’t get the Aurics to them easily) and 5 Liberators on the right objective. He used Lightning Chariot on his Relictor to lob itself to the right corner of the table on my side to score the 4 quarters secondary mission. While I was feeling confident on the primary mission (Starstrike) with 30 Aurics in the back pocket, I really didn’t need to be dragged down to a minor win by not getting my secondary too.

The Paladins were down to just the Maces and the Vulkites just kept coming. The LCoD died as did the Castellant.

Battle Round 3

The comets landed in the far right (vaguely near The Magmadroth) and right next to the Relictor - thankfully not near the 10 Liberators. I won the initiative and moved 3 Heroes onto the middle nearby objective (outnumbering the Relictor). The Magmadroth grabbed the far right objective and vommed Magma over the 5 Liberators - killing 3.

The focus quickly switched to the secondary objective as Joe sensibly conceded the Primary. I still could t get the Aurics into place, but the remaining Vulkites managed to kill off the Liberators by the end of Battleround 5.

Final result: 20-0

I got 1920 kill points to boot, which was a good haul but would keep me off the top table. A lot of the chat before the event was about avoiding/defeating Jack Armstrong with his Kroaknado list. 

It was a bad match up for Joe - he killed plenty of Vulkites, but got zero kill points somehow. He went on to win some of his games and said he really enjoyed the event so all good.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Nico

Great read mate

great write up, informative, respectful and interesting as always Nico. 

So I was honoured and absolutely delighted to get my first ever painting nomination! I think the army has a strong overall impact as a sea of orange and some of the models were painted more recently (the Raptors, Aetherwings and the third Runesmiter in particular) to a higher standard. I learned a lot over the course of painting this army, so there's definitely an observable progression from the old Vulkites to the newer painted ones.

Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Adam Cunis and Ming was a good feeling - although I was sure that the trophies would not be winging my way.

Thanks to the TOs.

Day 1 Game 2 vs Matt’s FEC

Game 2 was against the delightful Matt who deservedly won the best sports trophy. He had taken FEC, so getting less than 2000 kill points had spared me from Jack’s list and the Vanguard Wings.

Death are in a bad state now absent the 5++ Ward which was their best thing. To give one example - both Nighthaunt and the common build for Soulblight have armies entirely composed of fliers - aka bait for Kharadron Overlords armies! 

 

I have a FEC Force so I’m aware of how painful their lack of reach is. Sadly Crypt Horrors aren’t amazing and now cost as much as the superior Flayers.

 

I did like one thing in Matt’s List - the King’s Ghoul Battalion - solely for the Battleshock immunity it gives you from the start of the game. Death have plenty of defence that has to be switched on in your first hero phase, which can make all the difference vs DoT or KO alpha strikes. Losing 20 Ghouls turn one rather than 35 could make all the difference - especially when they can bring back models.

 

Deployment

It was Duality of Death, so heroes and behemoths to score. Matt deployed 2 Flappies on my right to grab that objective and then the horde on my left - with Horrors in front of Ghouls.

 

I deployed on the left as a bunker although I knew he was out of range turn one. I believe Matt decided to go first (which made sense in some ways as it meant he could get his 5++ Ward Save up and Mystic Shield.

 

Battleround 1

Matt went first and put the 5++ Ward on his GKoTG and possibly Mystic Shield. I explained to him that Vanhel’s Danse Macabre only works in your own turn - so only one extra pile in.

 

He lobbed forward the GKoTG to score the right objective. On the left his blob waddled forward - but he rolled badly for the run on one of the heroes and didn’t make it onto the objective.

 

In response I fired the Farsight Rune and then I deployed 30 Vulkites across from the Blob, 30 on the right 9” Away from both Flappies and the Ghouls and 30 Aurics on my right flank - guns poised at the GKoTG. The Rubesmiter on Magmadroth fires off his once per game buff at the end of the movement phase - hitting all of my units with tails. The Battlesmith activated but only affected the heroes on the table.

 

 

The shooting was brutal - the Aurics annihilated the GKoTG with axes and Magmapikes. The Vulkites took some wounds off the regular Terrorgheist and dented the Horrors (I acknowledged that this was barely worth doing if he got the turn next due to the Courtiers.

 

I failed the 9” charge onto the TG with the right Vulkites despite a reroll. Same story on the left. The Magmadroth made it in and would score a point. He clung on and did some pretty irrelevant bleed damage. #BleedMeta

 

Score 1:1

 

 

Battleround 2

Matt won the initiative. He sent the damaged TG onto the right objective. From memory the Crypt Ghast Horror went on the objective (we discussed this and it made sense as I would inevitably kill that hero next turn). The Ghouls and Varghulf and Horror Courtier went into the Vulkites. With zero rend on most of this it was a resounding bounce even without rerolls on the 4+ (not charged this turn) armour saves. I lost two models. Significantly I deliberately removed two models in the chain in order to leave a Runemaster shaped hole - so I could get to the objective next turn.

 

I ground back a fair number of models.

 

Then it was my turn. I fired the rend Rune and may have hit the 6 (although it makes little difference against the weak Saves of FEC).

 

I got the heroes through the gap on the left and charged onto the objective after shooting the Ghast off it (so I score it even though the Horror Courtier was there as I moved onto it). On the right side I deliberately held off from shooting the final wound on the Terrorgheist so that the Runesmiter could charge it, then the Vulkites would charge it, the 10 Ghouls and the Necrbromancer. By doing so I could lob 30 Shields at the Terrorgheist to kill it - or activate the Vulkites first if need be, then the Runesmiter could pile onto the objective to score it with a move over the corpse (even after taking D3 mortal wounds to the face).

 

Everything went to plan and I inflicted massive casualties and grabbed both objectives. The Major was in the bag on the primary.

 

To his credit Matt scored his secondary - which forced me to get mine for the full 20 Points. I had Treasure Hunter so I made sure not to kill the Varghulf too early.

 

Major victory 20-0

I killed 1980 to Matt’s 200 - the Runesmiter on Bleed Dragon. Matt didn’t play badly and knew his army pretty well. He was a true gent and went on to win best sports!

 

Reflecting on the game over lunch and thinking about it again now, Matt should have put the defensive buffs on the unridden Terrorgheist. That way even after I killed it, the ridden one could still have cast its spell.

 

Going first probably wasn’t a mistake (as otherwise I would have flooded the objectives), but Matt needed some chaff in front of his heroes to keep me from deleting his Flappy. Maybe the distances made that impossible. Some 60 Point Dire Wolves could have saved him. The 15” range of the Magmapike means that you can screen from them (unlike Arkanauts who can deploy 9” away and still hit a hero on the backline turn one) - the real source of their power.

 

Death need reinforcements in the form of a completely new faction desperately. It occurred to me that another reason why Soulblight and Nighthaunt underperform is that (with the typical choice of the all fly Battle Trait), they hand Kharadron Overlords rerolls of 1 to hit and wound vs the whole army.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Nico

Game 3 - Vanguard Wing

Game 3 was against Michael Wills and his Vanguard Wing plus Stardrake. 

He was a cool guy and fun to play against despite. The Battleplan was Knife to the Heart between two tanky lists - not ideal.

 

Deployment

With some reluctance I deployed 30 Vulkites on my objective wrapping around the Battlesmith and the Runemaster. The Raptors deployed so as to be in range of his Judicators (30”) but out of their 29” effective range. This meant the Magmadroth could tunnel up instead with its reroll wounds once per game bubble safely protected.

 

Michael deployed defensively on the opposite corner - 2 sets of Prosecutors in the Celestial Realm.

 

Michael picked killing the relic holder. 

Battleround One

We talked through what the Fyreslayers did - Michael opted for caution rather than aggression. This was probably sensible but getting a Major would be tough on this Battleplan (although it has now occurred to me that he may have been aiming for a Minor on Kill points plus the secondary).

 

He could have slammed his Vanguard Wing into the Vulkites but I had Battleshock Immunity aura unless his Prosecutors came down on a 3+ and got lucky. On the other hand this was the only chance to get them before I fired off Inspiring Presence and the Reroll Saves fire and forget AOE buff.

 

Instead he pushed forward his Stardrake and wrapped it on the back side with Liberators - perhaps this was bait. It was all too far away for the 30 Vulkites on the table do charge in my turn. He had a long tail and buildings to shield his Judicators and Castellant. This meant that his Liberators were immune to Battleshock and on a 2+ rerollable Save.

 

I had a pretty big ponder at this point - looking for any options other than brute force. There weren’t any options I could see other than a Mexican stand off - and hence no chance of a major on this Battleplan. That just left YOLO. From memory I used the Battleshock Immunity Rune as my Vulkites weren’t near the general to mitigate the situation if I lost initiative. Also the axe range Rune was irrelevant vs 2+ rerolling one’s targets!

 

I plonked down 30 Vulkites and the Magmadroth 9” away from his forces and in particular the Stardrake - take that out and the Liberators became far more manageable. Between mortal wounds, Bleed Damage and the rend on the axes I figured I had a fair chance of a quick kill.

The Magmadroth Magma bathes a Liberator. The Raptors fluffed their dice. 

Naturally I failed another 9” charge with a reroll of one dice and also failed the Magmadroth charge.

Thankfully I won the initiative.

Battleround 2

I fired off the rend Rune but didn’t get the 6 for Rend -3 in melee (it doesn’t work on pew pew). The Magmadroth walked closer so that it would automatically inflict D6 mortal wounds rather than D3 to the Liberators. It is solid at horde clearance. I kept the Aurics underground.

This time I made both charges and did some impact hit mortal wounds to the Stardrake. The Vulkites fluffed their hit rolls and didn’t do much. The Stardrake and Liberators hurt the Magmadroth and it proceeded to bleed on them and tail swipe the Liberators. This was a mistake on Michael’s part - he could have ignored the Magmadroth.

I was disappointed not to have killed or even crippled the Stardrake. The combat continued in Michael’s turn after be repositioned his Grandhammers to put them all in combat. The Magmadroth died but at the end of the phase the bleeding took the final wound off. This again raises the issue of whether the Ability still works even if the model has died. Purposively and logically killing it will still involve Magma bleeding everywhere, it would be absurd otherwise. We’ll see if they FAQ it. The rule should be in line with Jibber Jabbers.

The loss of Staunch Defender was a relief (Michael could have retreated the Stardrake), but the Vulkites were dropping and the Liberators still had Battleshock Immunity.

Battleround 3

I believe Michael got a double turn at this point and proceeded to whittle down heroes and my Vulkites.

In response I brought in the Aurics and blasted away with their guns at the Liberators. They were down to a 3+ rerolling ones, so between shooting and combat (with a Triumph buff) they took out a lot of Liberators. Scenting victory the home Vulkites advanced too. Unfortunately Michael eventually managed to bash the head in of my Runesmiter with the (useless here) Ash Plume Sigil to score the secondary. I had no way of making mine. Michael did well to surround him to prevent a retreat and also keeping his Castellant in range.

The Liberators hit back at the Aurics and the unit was rapidly depleted without Battleshock immunity.

Eventually I wiped the Liberators and   The Orange sea advanced on Michael’s forces with the Speed Rune. Even the Aetherwings made it into combat. However it wasn’t to be as the Castellant shrugged off Damage and the 5th Battleround passed. I won the Primary as a minor (1,740 to 760 on Kill Points!) but lost on secondaries for a draw.

I might have benefited from killing the Prosecutors faster to prevent repositioning of the Liberators on the fly.

Battleplan suits Fyreslayers very well. Michael could perhaps have put everything in the Sky except the Liberators, Castellant and Drake then dropped shooting and Rain of Stars to kill my general and Battlesmith (if dice went his way). However a few failed 3+ rolls and this could backfire horribly.

Overall I reckoned that I was still in with a shot of winning if things went my way on day 2.

There was great entertainment at the venue in the evening. The food was absolutely amazing for a gaming venue! The Legionaries chilled in the bar-shop (with lots of discounted Necromunda shinies to tempt us). Quite a lot of people played Overwatch. Plans for Bloodbowl did not pan out sadly. 

Ben Murphy and Leo were in good shape, while Declan, James and Simon hadn’t had much luck and had some tough match ups. Everyone was enjoying themselves. I was hoping that a draw would let me avoid Jack’s Kroaknado list the next day.

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by Nico

Hi Nico, great blog! It was really nice to meet you at the event and well done with your painting nomination, it’s well deserved. I enjoyed our warm up game on the Friday night, it put me in a good mood the whole weekend! Look forward to crossing axes with you again sometime soon

Edited December 11, 2017 by Salarath

Cheers George. Yeah it was great meeting you! That warm up game did us both good.

You going to any of the Heats?

Sadly I haven't got a ticket, I assume they've all sold out?

 

Such great and insightful battlereps, thank you so much for these !

Unfortunately I 've never got to play with Fyreslayers yet but your analysis is great to the point that gives me an idea of how this army works - and it's really strong indeed.

Really looking forward to the rest !

1 hour ago, Salarath said:

Sadly I haven't got a ticket, I assume they've all sold out?

 

They are sold out, but well worth posting on TGA or on Twitter as almost inevitably people do drop out and wish to resell their tickets.

It’s possible that there is a waiting list, but I don’t know.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Nico

Battle Report for Game 3 vs Michael Wills and Vanguard Wing now up (above).

Game 4 - Jack Armstrong - Kroaknado

The draw was made on the Saturday night and I was concerned to be playing Jack Armstrong in the morning. His reputation and Kroaknado list had preceded him. I’d put some thought into Jack’s list and concluded that it was a favourable match up for my list with numbers and Ward saves in my favour. Kroak was far better at dealing with MSU or Daemons. I also had the autounbind available.

 

Jack seemed to appreciate that he was in a difficult position too, but had formulated a plan. 

 

Throughout the game, I sensed we both knew where things stood throughout. He had a great sense for what really mattered in the game - even asking me to roll his dice for Saves to speed things along.

 

Deployment

The Battleplan was Battle for the Pass.

 

After discussing the ranges of my various attacks, Jack cornered his army with Kroak and the Slaan safe. He put minimal troops on the table - just a line of 5 Saurus Cavalry as the screen as he could bring on reinforcements at will via his 1 drop Battalion. Jack likely wanted me to overcommit.

 

I deployed the Raptors and Aetherwings on my home objective, the expendable Runemaster on my left and the Magmadroth on the right. 

 

As predicted Jack opted to give me first turn.

 

Battleround One

I made the correct decision in choosing to strike the Battleshock Immunity Rune first - particularly since my Battleshock Immunity bubble general would not last long and would be too distant. I didn’t over commit - only throwing in 30 Vulkites and the Runesmiter. The Magmadroth waddled forward and blasted a Saurus Knight. I made the 9” charge and deleted the front line. More importantly I seized an early 9 point lead.

 

 

The first 30 Vulkites came down, wiped Jack's shield and squatted on his home objective.

 

Jack responded by teleporting Kroak and the Slaan out of the corner and bringing on the Astrolith his big unit of Saurus Cav and his Carnosaur. He gave them the reroll hits buff.

 

Kroak unleashed hell - it felt like every D3 was 3 Damage. The Aetherwings, Raptors and Battlesmith were nuked. 

 

The Carnosaur may have failed its charge but the Cavalry made it in. The losses were on both sides, but I rolled pretty well for Ward saves. The Battleshock immunity left me in control of Jack’s home objective.

 

 

The Vulkites shout "hold the line"

 

Battleround 2

Jack won the double and killed the Magmadroth and dented my remaining heroes - he also secured his secondary (the trivial 4 quarters mission). I had saved this one for this tough game only to find with horror that despite having 80+ models alive, I didn’t have 4 scoring units - as a 5 Wound hero with one wound taken didn’t count.

 

My Vulkites dregs cling on and stopped Jack retaking his home. A summoned Razordon eventually scored my home objective.

 

My response was to bring on 60 Dudes and use the Farsight Rune. I ignored Kroak and focussed on pressurising Jack’s objective. The pew pew did ok, but the Vulkites failed another 9” Charge with a reroll of one dice. I think I still scored his home objective with a retreat.

 

 

Revenge of the Sea of Orange

 

Battleround 3

I won the initiative, probably fatal otherwise. I put full buffs on and proceeded to devastate the dented Carnosaur and Knights. I started recapturing the other objectives too. The Aurics headed back home to reclaim my objective.

 

Jack’s response was vicious - 3D3 Mortal Wounds killed 9 Aurics (no Wards). Pew pew from the Razordons added to the carnage. The monstrously expensive unit eventually popped.

 

However, the damage was done, my lock on Jack’s home objective proving too much of a lead to claw back.

 

The dice were firmly in Jack’s favour, but the Battleplan helped me. Jack was a true gent throughout.

 

A minor victory overall as Jack got his secondary. I got a shiny signed certificate for my efforts! This was a major scalp for the Legion. Jack would become a worthy Master only a few months later (last week) with his souped up Vanguard Wing.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2018 by Nico

Game 5 - Joe McGough - Vanguard Wing 

Top table for the final round was a new experience for me.

Joe was a very capable player and confident. The game was pleasant throughout. Joe informed me that as he didn't need a major to win the event (having bested Clubmate Ben Murphy's Vanguard Wing earlier), he wouldn't be playing for one. Jack had given him the shrewd advice - "win the event don't win the game" - this was a shame for me as he could afford to play very defensively and negatively. His list was a solid Vanguard Wing without the Stardrake, but with Primetime.

We didn't play Scorched Earth, which was probably bad news for me (Vanguard Wing Liberators can only burn one objective per turn and Liberators are on 40mm bases not 32mm). I have to say that complaints about how unfair it is as Murderhost can get easy wins on the battleplan look rather quaint now. The meta has moved on incredibly fast which is great to see. 

Deployment

The Battleplan was instead Total Conquest, i.e. Zig Zag. I put my big block of Vulkites on my right surrounding the Battlesmith and Runefather, who took cover in a building. We discussed the building and agreed that he wouldn't land folks on top of it, so I didn't have to run a line of models over the top, which was kind of him.

Joe deployed centrally. with from memory 2 units of Prosecutors in the Celestial Realms.

I put my Raptors and Aetherwings on my left (in the narrow 3" area). I think this put them in range of his Judicators (but not vice versa, as I have an extra 1" effective range). The idea was to put some downside on him giving me turn one.

Battleround 1

Joe went first and spent what felt like a good half an hour finessing the positioning of his Liberators and Prosecutors so as to lock down my Vulkites but also limit how many models I could get into combat as well as simultaneously zoning off almost the entirety of the rest of the table. We both appreciated that I could tunnel up the Magmadroth, but not the 30 Aurics in his half of the table. Joe was able to get his Liberators into my Raptors (of course, they don't need to charge so Aetherwings were essentially useless).

Liberators after teleporting - the three sticks point to the small gap in the zoning off of my tunnellers

Joe grabbed an early lead.

In response I tunnelled up the Magmadroth and the other 30 Vulkites, while leaving the Aurics underground as planned. The plan was for the Magmadroth to shoot and then charge the Judicators in the middle - wiping them out. Then if I won the double, I could bring down the Aurics, kill the Castellant and then the Liberators would really start to melt. Meanwhile the Vulkites would slam into the whole line of Liberators and hopefully do some damage between impact hits and a huge volume of -1 rend attacks.

I failed the 9" charge for the Vulkites despite the reroll. The Magmadroth killed 1 Judicator with shooting and then failed its charge. The only charge I made was of the Runesmiter against the 3 Prosecutors. His melee attack is weaker than that of a Grot with no arms, so he did nothing. 

Attentive readers may detect a pattern across my games in relation to charges....

Joe won the initiative to compound the pain

Battleround 2

It didn't help matters when Joe still somehow had the trivial 4 quarters secondary objective (i.e. win the initiative and you get the secondary). Presumably this was preparation rather than luck.

I shot myself in the foot by not appreciating how hard it would be for my troops on the ground to reach the opposite corner (not the opposite side - I forgot this mid-game) - so again secondaries foiled me. I should perhaps have kept the other unit of Vulkites on the table. Joe would have pinned both units while only allowing a few models to engage but on balance it still would have been preferable. I could have retreated out of combat and hoped for a double to get an effective charge in, while firing the extra rend rune.

 

 

Joe again made hardly any effort to kill my Vulkites with his Liberators, instead, he tagged exactly one model of the new 30 Vulkite unit with his Liberators. Prime Time came down and hit my heroes and both units of Vulkites with the comet.

I removed the one Vulkite who was in range of the Liberators as a casualty. Joe activated his Liberators but didn't move them in this area. This gave me a chance.

In response, I fired the rend rune and got both units of Vulkites into the Liberators. The Magmadroth cleared out the Judicators. I passed several Mystical tests. I rolled badly for the hit rolls and relatively few Liberators died.

From memory I did win this initiative roll.

Battleround 3

The Aurics came down and somehow failed to kill the Castellant despite reroll wounds from the Runesmiter on Magmadroth. The Liberators were really melting now. Getting towards 10 models left.

I planned out another 9" charge from the Aurics (who aren't bad in melee if they get to go first if there is a hero near their target). This would have recaptured my left objective (which scores two points on this Battleplan which was a big deal) and killed more of the Prosecutors (leaving few or possibly none of them to redeploy the Liberators with).

Naturally I failed the 9" charge and so it was looking bad.

Joe appreciated that the Aurics were a squishy target and redeployed the Grand Hammers to deal with them. However, he made two significant errors. He charged the general into the Vulkites, turning off Staunch Defender for him and pulling the Liberators out of the Staunch Defender bubble. This could have been suicidal and was an unforced error. Primetime grabbed my objective. The bigger mistake was activating the general first, which wouldn't have affected how many Vulkites hit back and meant that my Aurics could smack his relatively poorly armoured Liberators with the buff for a nearby hero.

To my disgust I rolled a horrendous set of hit rolls and Joe saved absurdly well and he got out of trouble. The Grand Hammers then made a mess out of the Aurics. The General took damage but survived.

Ultimately Joe's strategy was sound and he executed it very well; he was able to delay me enough to stop me grabbing back objectives. I had hoped that the dice gods would frustrate such a negative strategy (playing for a draw overall or better), but it was not to be. Had I actually won the Major on the Primary (going down to a Minor as he won on secondaries), then from memory club mate Ben Murphy would have won the event narrowly (as he got a Major in his last game).

I take vindication from the fact that it would not have taken much to have changed the result - not failing any one of 4 key charges or winning the first initiative roll. The deployment of the Raptors was a big error on my part and including the Raptors in the list at all was the biggest mistake I made all tournament. They contributed virtually nothing in any of the games. The theoretical advantage of blocking charges never made a difference (although this is a function of matchups, it's great against Murderhost).

 

 

 

Conclusion

Fantastic event overall. The best food of any tournament I've been to! Amazing. Very considerate and thoughful TOs - thank you so much. Thanks to all of my opponents: Joe, Matt,  Michael, Jack and Joe - you were all gents! 

Fyreslayers are fun to play although they are extremely predictable for your opponent. I do think a lot of their perceived strength is down to lack of experience playing them as essentially a new army having been revitalised in the GHB 2017 (in contrast to Vanguard Wing, which literally requires you to take specific hard counters to deal with it). Fyreslayers are middle of the Tier One armies - they can give Tzeentch a hard time and are very good against Seraphon. They absolutely wreck Bonesplitterz as they have a huge volume of low rend attacks which is the recipe you need to deal with them. I do think that the much hated Kinband Battalion, which people are contorting the rules to nerf, is weak and frankly overkill as people shouldn't be putting anything valuable in the 16" range of the throwing axes anyway (assuming they know what the army does) and/or you're killing models so as to make your charge roll even harder.

I'm not sure how to adjust the army going forward - others have suggested using Skywardens, but I'm not a fan - they are even squishier than Raptors.

I walked away with 5th place, a first ever painting nomination, a first top table last game and a shiny certificate commemorating how I beat some dude who is better at Warhammer than I am - apparently he's pretty famous. Jack's a lovely guy and a worthy Master now! A decent haul. The club did well at Angelcore - especially Ben Murphy in second place with Vanguard Wing (the one I didn't play); Simon and Declan recovered from awful matchups on day 1; and Leo took a Kroaknado to the face with Tzeentch (what was it 60 mortal wounds turn one?) in Game 5. At Honour & Glory, the South London Legion also performed well. Ben Savva in particular did well and helped get him to the Masters in January!