Nico Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 So I rocked up to Rain of Stars with my "mostly Grots" list: Goregutz the Troll Hag 400 Stompy the Rogue Idol of Gork 480 Char the Magma Dragon 520 Grimjaw the Dread Maw 440 Morejaw the Dread Maw 440 20 Grots (the Green Moon Clan) 120 3 Fanatics 90 This list was intended for SCGT style tournaments (where monsters can always score), so it suffers a lot under the GH. I only had one hero for example and a low model count for scoring. Game 1 I was drawn against the replacement player Laurie - we had a mutual friend Bowlzee and he was a true gent. He had had to use a borrowed army, which was: Archaon Hellcannon Varanguard Harbinger 5 Marauder Cavalry 10 Plaguebearers 10 Plaguebearers 3 Bile Trolls The Battleplan was Blood and Glory (4 objectives - you can claim and then move off). Deployment I had essentially one decision to make, which was whether to go double Dread Maw or Dread Maw plus Magma Dragon. My thinking in taking the latter was that the Magma Dragon could get its 2 D6 mortal wounds against the blocks of 10 Plaguebearers in cover (I knew they had wards), so i could put early pressure on his objective on my right. I regretted this in hindsight. I basically feinted with the Grots on the left and put all my other units on the right. Laurie put his Hellcannon on my left with a bunker of Plaguebearers to stop my Dreadmaw killing it. I made my General Char, the Magma Dragon, so he could take Bellowing Shout for +1 to hit. I let Laurie go first. Battleround 1 Laurie moved up his cavalry and turned the Varanguard Nurgle (so they benefitted from the ward save from the Harbinger). The Hellcannon did a casual 9 mortal wounds on the Magma Dragon. I responded by surging forward with really good rolls for Rampaging. The Magma Dragon was wounded, so i sent it into the Marauder Cavalry and shot 7 wounds off the Plaguebearers. The Troll Hag also shot some wounds off the Varanguard. The Rogue Idol made it into the Varanguard. My Dread Maw emerged on the far right and made its charge into the Plaguebearers on the objective. It thought rolling a triple one for three 2+ wound rolls was acceptable. However, it still finished off the unit. The Rogue Idol fluffed its attacks, such that only one Varanguard died, with another left on one wound. This was costly as the double pile in meant it got 4 whole models worth of attacks instead of 2. The grots advanced on my left and strung out a line towards the middle of the table - the trap was laid. The Marauder Cavalry did 3 wounds to the Magma Dragon. In hindsight, I should have taken the first turn and just alpha striked the Magma Dragon (with mystic shield) into the Varanguard before they got their ward saves up and killed the whole unit, then i would hope that Archaon would fail his Slayer of Kings roll. At this point I'm holding 3 objectives, but only scoring at the end of the game. Battleround 2 Crucially - I lost the initiative. Archaon sidestepped the Rogue Idol and advanced towards the Troll Hag. The Hellcannon did another 9 mortal wounds to the Magma Dragon - killing it. The lone fanatic popped out of the Grots and charged Archaon (rolled an 11 I think - that's why the grots are out of frame) - pinning him in place unable to charge Goregutz the Hag. 30 points versus 700. Boom! The Varanguard inflicted heavy damage on the Rogue Idol. Stompy finally killed the second Varanguard (but Laurie rolled obscenely well for ward saves all game). Archaon smashed the Fanatic - raging with fury. In my turn, the Dread Maw failed its mystical terrain test (I had no choice as the terrain was where the Plaguebearers had been guarding his objective). My luck went to pieces from this point on. Stompy and the Troll Hag still failed to kill the Varanguard. The Grots engaged the Plaguebearers and did zero damage. I lost a few in return and a few more to Battleshock. Battleround 3 I lost the initiative again. This time the Hellcannon took off the Rogue Idol. Free of the fanatic, Archaon went towards my table edge to capture my objective (instead of attacking). The Troll Hag finally got rid of the Varanguard. The Dread Maw passed its mystical test, but rolled terribly for movement. The Grots retreated forwards towards the Hellcannon - hoping I would get a double turn to kill off the crew. Laurie had 2 objectives and I held 2 also. Battleround 4 I lost the initiative again ( so no Grots triumphantly taking down crew) Now it was down to trying to prevent a major loss. Archaon came back from the objective and attacked the Troll Hag. In combination with the Hellcannon he killed it. The Plaguebearers and Grots exchanged some inconsequential attacks. In my turn, the Dread Maw managed a decent move to recapture the objective that Archaon had previously nabbed. The Grots now had to retreat and formed a patchy line so as to block the Plaguebearers from getting any models within 6 of the objective. Battleround 5 Now thinking that I've missed a turn somewhere. Anyway - I think I finally won the initiative and held onto my objectives. Laurie couldn't get a major. In his turn, Archaon came down and rolled well to kill off the Dread Maw. He would have gotten a minor victory anyway due to kill points. I was disappointed with how few Kill Points i got. Laurie didn't make any mistakes other than because he didn't know exactly how fanatics work. I thought I played it pretty well, especially on the left flank where the grots held up a much more valuable chunk of Laurie's army (and could have taken out the Hellcannon crew with a double turn). I certainly focussed hard on the objectives, which helped and rightly didn't even try to touch Archaon. Visually, Archaon and the Varanguard against the monster mash looked amazing. A really fun game for both of us. In hindsight again - why didn't I just use the shooting attack of the magma Dragon to fry the crew of the Hellcannon - effective range of 34 inches - derp. I think I was focussed too much on using the double damage against blocks of 10+ models to clear off the objective. After that game I shelved the Magma Dragon and went for Double Dread Maw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Tomlin Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Nice report so far @Nico - Looking forward to reading more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 Game 2 - the gold box of Stormcast - Sam Davies This one was Take and Hold - 2 objectives (which was incredibly hard for my low model count to get a major victory on). Sam's army This was pure Stormcast. He had: Lord Celestant on Dracoth (General). Prime Time Knight Heraldor Knight Vexillor 10 Retributors 5 Protectors 10 Judicators 10 Liberators Deployment Despite heavy inebriation (whisky on the table), Sam deployed carefully. We managed to have about 5 pieces of mystical terrain including Settra's summer pyramid, so Sam ended up making himself a box. In hindsight leaving mores space might have worked better as my long reach allowed me to attack the Judicators over the heads of other units. Given that Sam had the Vexillor + Retributor combo, my deployment had to be equally careful. The 3 fanatics would act as a shield with the grots forming a ring around my two monsters. Morejaw and Grimjaw were deployed underground. Battleround 1 I gave Sam the first turn. His judicators shot off some Grots and his box advanced slightly but retained its shape. He didn't use the Vexillor. His general went off to one side to shield the Paladins from the Dread Maw. I alpha-struck with Stompy into the Protectors (monster killing Paladins). The Dread Maws popped up on each side. The one on my right made the 9 inch charge into the Lord Celestant. I picked Stompy first, knowing that the Dread Maw would hardly take any damage. He killed most of the remaining Protectors and 4 Judicators. Goregutz swigged the battlebrew to power up his turbo-vom and killed off some Protectors. The Lord Celestant on Dracoth failed to scratch the ward save Dread Maw. The Dread Maw swallowed him whole. All going to plan at the moment. Battleround 2 True to form I didn't get the double turn. The Judicators continued to whittle down the Grots. The Retributors moved into the Dread Maw on my right. The Liberators braced themselves for the onslaught of the other Dread Maw. The Starsoul Maces did some damage to the Dread Maw, but not enough to stop it killing 2 in return. Stompy cleaned house, destroying everything in front of him. I'm not sure why Sam didn't retreat these units backwards here. In my second turn, I pulled the Troll Hag back to my objective - expecting the Prime to come down to kill it. I clocked on early to Sam's plan to teleport the Retributors in round 3 at which point he could get the instant win. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't realised that Prime Time alone wasn't enough to capture it. I deployed the fanatics at this point fearing that the Grots would die otherwise. One of them made the charge. The Dread Maw on my left passed its mystical test and charged into the Liberators and Judicators. Stompy advanced onto the Heraldor but was also in range of the Vexillor. The Dread Maw on the right killed a few more Paladins and took a further beating from the maces - getting low now. In response the Heraldor tried to beat up Stompy. I went with the other Dread Maw and deleted a lot of Gold Dudes. Sam went with the Vexillor, doing minor damage. I went with the Fanatic, who failed to kill the Heraldor. I didn't want to take a risk a major loss and so I put all of Stompy's attacks onto the Vexillor - killing him. Battleround 3 Sam won the initiative and brought down Prime Time with 6 attacks, who went for the Troll Hag. He used up his Orrery early (I think on the charge). However, it proved to be too little too late. The Heraldor melted the Grots and all of the fanatics with a sharp blast of his horn. Prime Time fluffed his hit rolls and did about 10 wounds on the Troll Hag - not enough. The right Dread Maw brought down a few more Paladins and was finally killed. The left Dread Maw murdered what was left of the Liberators and Judicators. At this point, I'm not sure Sam even had 10 models remaining, which he needed for a major. I took about 2 wounds off the Prime with the Hag. After pondering whether to just stay away from the Paladins and shoot them off from afar, I remembered I was playing Destruction and charged in Stompy. The Troll hag did retreat and the Dread Maw bowled forward to take its place. The Paladins smashed holes in the Rogue Idol. Stompy rolled badly and killed a few Paladins in return. Battleround 4 Having regenerated 9 wounds over 2 turns, Goregutz decided to turbo-vom the Prime and knocked some wounds off him. The remaining Dread Maw charged in and finished the job. The Paladins dented Stompy some more, but he killed one in return. Neither of us could get a major victory at this point, so it was down to kill points. Sam conceded, so I got a minor victory and all the kill points bar the Paladins. Stomp, Stompy, Stomp, Stomp! It was a pleasure playing against him. It demonstrated to me how reliant Stormcast are on starsoul maces - where you can blunt those with 4+ ward saves, they are in huge trouble. I'd like to see an army entirely made up of Vulkite Berserkers against them. While a little unreliable, the Dread Maws proved their worth in this game. The Rogue Idol on the other hand (while deceptively fast) is too unreliable and too easy to kill with a 4+ save to warrant 480 points (as he doesn't have a ranged attack or any other special rules). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 Game 3 - the Legend Steve Foote For my final game, I was drawn against Steve Foote and his Seraphon. I've been soundly crushed by Seraphon in the past, so I came up wiz a cunnin plan. The Battleplan was Border War - with 4 objectives , where the one in the enemy territory counts for more (it's a great idea) Steve's army Steve had managed the impossible of making a fluffy list containing a Dread Saurian (which towers over even the Rogue Idol) - he did this by including Saurus Cavalry in a formation and no Slaan. His army (and terrain) did look obscenely good. He had 2 lesser Dinos and a few characters. Deployment This time I brought back Char (the Magma Dragon), thinking that I could use his mobility and huge damage output. I made Char my general. I deployed Char on my right opposite a load of Saurus Cavalry and a lesser Dino. I deployed Stompy and Goregutz on my left opposite a lesser Dino (Carnosaur) and some Saurus Cavalry. My Grots held my objective in the middle - they could score it and then move off freely. Steve's Dread Saurian took up the middle with the fast dinos on the flanks. This was a really unfortunate match up for Steve as his cavalry had literally no good targets. The only squishy thing I had would be able to pop out a fanatic to block a charge. Battleround 1 Steve moved forward to grab the objectives and start socring (against Destruction - of the free movement in the hero phase, this is probably a bad idea) - opening yourself up to a charge. The Dread Saurian edged forward cautiously, confused by the oversized Orruk ahead of it. Steve scored 5 points. The Dread Maw emerged on my right to come into a unit of Saurus Cavalry. Char moved up - ready to fry. On the left, Stompy and Goregutz surged forward. The Grots held their nerve and formed a line towards the Dread Saurian. Char blasted its lava bolts to the side of the 10 Saurus Cavalry, while Goregutz turbo vomited on another unit on the left. The Dread Maw made its charge and deleted a smaller unit of Saurus Cavalry. Char clamped a dino in its maw and ripped its head clean off. Stompy took 10 wounds off the other Carnosaur. I claimed 5 points (as Stompy and the Troll hag outnumbered the Carnosaur), so we were level. Battleround 2 Steve won the initiative. Steve's Carnosaur retreated. His unit of 10 Saurus Cavalry levelled their lances at Grot height. The Dread Saurian roared as it approached Stompy. However, the clang of a metal ball denting its scales brought the Carnosaur to a shuddering halt. The fanatic was MVP again. Steve opted to attack with the Saurus Cavalry, who slaughtered a few Grots and took 2 wounds in return. The fanatic fluffed its attacks and was swiftly devoured. In my turn, Goregutz cursed the Dread Saurian (-1 to hit and -1 to saves) Char swept across the battlefield and the Dread Maw followed up. Goregutz guarded the objective and turbo-vomited over the crippled Carnosaur to kill it. Stompy charged the Dread Saurian from the front while Char engaged it from the rear. Char went first, biting flaming gouges out of the Dread Saurian's tail. The Dread Saurian knocked some wounds off the Rogue Idol, which in turn smashed great stony fists into its head. The Saurus Cavalry routed the Grots. Steve was now marginally ahead in points, but things weren't looking good. Battleround 3 The Dread Maw swooped back to the objective on the right. Goregutz vomited over the Dread Saurian, taking it down to its last few wounds. Char struck again, encasing the Dread Saurian in lava before striking the killing blow. Steve conceded shortly afterwards. He played it fine, but simply didn't have the tools to counter my monsters. Once again the fanatic proved its value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 To sum up, 3 great games, 3 awesome opponents. One tasty south coast Fish and Chips. All good. Magma Dragon could go down to 480. Rogue Idol down to 440 and Troll Hag down to 360. The atmosphere was great and very chilled. With a major win, minor win and minor loss, I came 13th overall - sign I should take Skaven to The Warlords perhaps.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Tomlin Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Good reports @Nico and nice one taking so many photos - glad you had fun, you did have some sweet opponents tbh! Pretty decent on the results front as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Loyn Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I think your list needed more grots... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 I just needed to take turn one and shoot the crew of the Hellcannon with the Magma Dragon's long range, then I would have won the first game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dez Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Thanks for the report, I love the Monster Mash! Now I'm thinking about how fun a monster list with all sorts of Night Goblins running around getting underfoot would be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 Yeah, my current Destruction list is the 20 Grots and fanatics, 2 units of Ogres (Battleline), then the Magma Dragon and a Dread Maw or 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wundlesprut Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Nice reports and loving the army, I look forward to seeing more of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphage Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 On 10/8/2016 at 4:53 PM, Nico said: To sum up, 3 great games, 3 awesome opponents. One tasty south coast Fish and Chips. All good. Magma Dragon could go down to 480. Rogue Idol down to 440 and Troll Hag down to 360. The atmosphere was great and very chilled. With a major win, minor win and minor loss, I came 13th overall - sign I should take Skaven to The Warlords perhaps.... Those were some lovely battlereports to read ! Really really enjoyed them, thank you very much, looking forward to the next ones ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nico Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 Thank you very much for those kind comments. There are some more here on my hobby blog: Nico's Hobby Lab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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