Battle Report 6: Orcs vs Forces of Nature 03/06/2017

Orcs and Naiads fight for loot over a suitably wintery battlefield 

Hello again!

This is the first report that I'll be doing from the Hutt Runefang IX tournament. Sadly this didn't take place in an awesome old church, but I was a fun tournament anyway. As with the WWSS tourney, my goal was to finish mid-table, but ideally to do it in a more convincing fashion instead of relying on a time-out and a bye.

My first game was against Peter Williamson's naiad-heavy Forces of Nature army. I've faced forces of nature before but that was a very different army. I'm not that familiar with naiads (either Ensnarers or Wyrm riders), or Hunters of the Wild, I know that Tree Herders are tough and flying Beasts of Nature are really annoying. Pete is also a good player, so this would be a challenge.

Armies

Orcs
Ax horde 205
  - Godspeaker, banechant, heal 100
  - Skulks, 75
  - Giant 190

Ax horde 205
  - Godspeaker, banechant, heal 100
  - Skulks, 75
  - Wardrum 80

Morax regiment, brew of sharpness 245
  - Godspeaker, heal, inspiring talisman 105

Gore Rider regiment, mace of crushing 190
   - Flagger, gore mount 65

Gore Rider regiment 185

*Orcling horde 90
*Orcling horde 90




Force of Nature
Naiad Ensnarer horde 230
    - Hunters of the Wild Troop 135
    - Druid, banechant 80

Naiad Ensnarer horde 230
    - Tree Herder 260

Water Elemental horde 220
    - Beast of Nature, wings, lightning bolt, vicious 240

Naiad Wyrmrider horde 240
    - Winged Unicorn, lightning bolt, Myrddin's Amulet of the Fire-heart 200

Centaur Bray-Strider regiment 155

Terrain and Deployment

The scenario we were going to play was Push, not a bad scenario for orcs who want to be on the opponents side of the board anyway. The map was also favourable for orcs, with a couple of large, open fields to limit the effectiveness of pathfinder and provide me unhindered charges. Pete got to choose sides.

Pete deployed his infantry in the middle of the board, with the fliers behind them (giving them good coverage of the battlefield), and his Wyrmriders, Centaurs, Treeherder and Hunters on my left. He refused the right flank, relying on the building and the fliers to protect it. 

Both of his tokens were placed on the Naiad Ensnarers, ensuring that they wouldn't be easy pickings.

My strategy was fairly standard, use the Ax as a meat shield to protect loot-carrying Orclings and Morax, and use the skulks to prevent multi-charges on the hordes. 

Given the way that Pete deployed, I placed all of my cavalry on the right in an attempt to rush up around the building and flank his Ensnarers, I also put the Giant with them to add more meat and discourage any big birds landing among the easily startled cavalry. 

I thought about placing one of my loot tokens on the Gore Riders (something which my opponent was encouraging me to do as well), but given their tendency to break I decided against it. Placing one of the tokens on the Orclings gave me the option of moving them out to the right, and to shield them with the cavalry and Giant.

Pete also won the roll off for turns and elected to go first (which suited me).

Turn 1 Forces of Nature

The Forces of Nature advance at full speed

The Forces of Nature kicked off by advancing everything at full speed toward the orcs. The Hunters and Tree Herder both took cover behind the forest, as the Centaurs and Wyrmriders climbed the hill. 

The Naiad advance was slower, with the Winged Unicorn and Beast of Nature both jumping in front of the right horde. Together they lightning bolted the Skulks for 6 points of damage and wavered them.

The Forces of Nature advance around the forest

Turn 1 Orcs

The orc advance is stalled

The wavered Skulks were a major hindrance to the orcs, preventing most of the infantry from moving up more than a few inches and forcing them to surrender the open ground in the middle. 

In response the Giant and one of the units of Gore Riders turned inward, hoping to discourage any further advancement from the Naiads. The Gore Riders turned in such a way to allow them to charge the Beast of Nature if it attacked the Giant.

The Orclings with the token also decided to turn toward the flank and head for the building.

The left hand Ax horde also elected to stay out of the forest and wait for the rest of the orcs to reorganise.

Turn 2 Forces of Nature

The forces of nature bear down on the orcs

With the Gore Riders and Giant threatening a flank charge, the Naiads slowed down. The left horde only moved far enough to claim the middle token, and the right one took cover behind the building.

The Tree Herder and Hunters entered the forest, giving them a good charge on the Ax Horde next turn. The Wyrmriders elected to move around the forest, setting up a devastating triple charge, as the Bray Striders moved to support them.

Water Elementals turned toward the right flank in response to the flanking Gore Riders.

The fliers opened fire on the Skulks again, finishing off the wavered unit and wavering the other, stalling the orcs for another turn.

Turn 2 Orcs

The Godspeakers push the cowardly skulks aside

The wavered Skulks reformed to face the Treeherder and hunters, offering themselves up as juicy bait for the Naiads and also allowing two of the Godspeakers to put four damage on the front Ensnarer horde. (the other healed the Skulks for 2)

One of the Gore Rider units continued to traverse the building, but the other remained where they were to discourage fliers from moving out to the flank. The Orclings also turned slightly to provide further protection against flier shenanigans as the Giant moved into charge range of the Naiads.

The orc flanking force in action

Turn 3 Forces of Nature

The attack begins

The Beast of Nature began the attack in earnest, flying into the Godspeakers and wavering one of the them. The Naiads followed closely behind, breaking the Skulks and turning to face the Ax horde.

The Naiad Wyrmriders and Treeherder charged the Ax horde, but there wasn't enough space for the Hunters to join as well, meaning that they could only do 6 damage to the well-armoured Ax.

Behind the front lines the Centaurs moved in to cover the centre as the Water Elementals continued shambling over to the flank.

The Beast of Nature claws at the Godspeakers but can't break them

Turn 3 Orcs

Morax love flanks

The orcs were in a good position to counter-attack. The Ax horde rushed over the wall at the lead Naiads, as the Giant covered their flank. Whilst neither stood much chance of breaking the net-wielding fishmen, this did allow the Godspeakers to scatter to safety.

It also opened up the Beast of Natures' flank to the Morax, which they took with relish. The orcs will be having big bird for dinner.

The other Ax horde were banechanted and elected to charge the Tree Herder doing 7 damage to it. Whilst they stood a better chance of killing the Wyrm Riders, charging the Tree Herder moved them within range of the Wardrum, giving them a slightly better chance to survive the next turn.

On the right one unit of Gore Riders moved in to support the Giant, as the Orclings continued their journey into enemy territory. The other unit of Gore Riders backed out of range of the Water Elementals.

Turn 4 Forces of Nature

The orcs' left flank begins to crumble

The death of the Beast of Nature had reduced this to a war of attrition, thankfully the combined strength of the Wyrmriders, Tree Herder and Hunters were able to crack the Ax horde despite the Wardrum.

Less progress was made elsewhere. The Naiads failed to break either the Ax horde or the Giant, and the Winged Unicorn's lightning was insufficient to finish off the wounded Godspeaker.

The Centaurs continued to wander into the middle of the battlefield with a goal of collecting tokens from the beleaguered Naiads.

Turn 4 Orcs

The waver token was on the other Naiads - oops

With an emerging war of attrition in the middle, the Morax and Orclings moved to engage on the left. The Orclings added a couple of more points of damage to the Treeherder, stalling it and the Wyrmriders whilst the Morax cut the Hunters to pieces.

The Wardrum charged the Naiad's flank, hoping to put a few extra wounds on and assist the Ax horde. Between them they brought the Naiads up to 11 damage, wavering them.

The Gore Riders joined the Giant and were less successful, piling on 9 points of damage.

The orcs about to break through

Turn 5 Forces of Nature

The centaurs take the loot

The Naiads in the middle healed down to 6 damage, meaning that they were likely to survive the grind from the Ax horde. 

The Naiads on the right were far more successful, healing all but 3 points of damage and smashing the Giant up to 13 points in total, wavering him (not that he minded).

The Naiad Wyrmriders ran down the Orclings, as the Tree Herder hit the Morax for 3, holding them up whilst the Wyrmriders reformed.

The Water Elemental ambled forward, forcing the reluctant Gore Riders to engage them. The centaurs also turned around to face the Wardrum's flank.

The Winged Unicorn finally zzzapped the Godspeaker, denying the orcs some of their magical support.

Not only are Wyrmriders stronger than Orclings, they also have nicer rocks

Turn 5 Orcs

The orcs take the lead, but will it last?

The orcs continued to counter-charge. The furious Giant and unhindered Gore Riders managing to pile on enough damage to overcome the Naiads' healing abilities and scattering them, claiming the token and pushing it back onto the FoN's side!

The Ax horde and Wardrum again failed to break the other Naiad horde, barely damaging them. However, the Ax horde did  pick up the token dropped by the Morax, hopefully securing it until the end of the game.

On the left the Morax counter-charged the Tree Herder. However the Godspeakers foolishly elected to heal the three points of damage on them rather than banechanting, meaning that the tree survived, and the Moraxes' flank was exposed (oops!)

With no other options the Gore Riders charged into the Water Elementals, but couldn't break them. The Orclings moved up to support them if needed.

Turn 6 Forces of Nature

The exhausted orcs begin to fall

Whilst the orcs were now in the lead, they had a large number of weakened and exposed units for the Forces of Nature to take out. The Giant finally fell as the Winged Unicorn charged him in the flank, and the Morax were shredded by the Wyrmriders and Treeman. 

The Centaurs finally engaged the Wardrum's flank, massacring the deranged orc drummers. 

The Naiads also pushed forward, doing 7 points of damage courtesy of a banechant from the Druid.

The Water Elementals showed why the Gore Riders were right to have avoided them, running the orcs from the field in a single charge. However they were left unable to charge the orclings next turn.

The Morax die and the Ax horde take a pounding

Turn 6 Orcs

Things are looking a bit grim for the Ax-horde

Whilst their numbers were rapidly declining the orcs were still in the lead, and would win if the game ended this turn. However if there was a turn 7 the badly damaged Ax horde would be charged by the Ensnarers, Unicorn, Centaurs and potentially one of the flanking units. Having already taken 8 points of damage they were unlikely to survive this. 

This left them with a difficult decision. They could drop the token and then shuffle sideways on top of it which would prevent the Forces of Nature from taking it, guaranteeing at least a draw, and giving a win if the horde survived. However this would mean that the orcs threw away a win if there wasn't a turn 7.

As it was the orcs elected to play it safe and dropped the token, The Godspeakers also moved to block the Wyrmriders and possibly take out the badly damaged Tree Herder (they could only waver it however).

The Orclings shuffled around to ensure that the Elementals couldn't charge them, as the Gore Riders rounded the house to take a chance of breaking the elementals on turn 7 (I think I forgot about the token and moved them too far).

I rolled the die for turn 7... and it was a 1 resulting in a draw.

Decisions, decisions

After-battle thoughts

Well that was fun, and a fair result. As it was Peter had just killed enough to get a +2 modifier, giving him 10 points to my 6 (shame that I didn't take out that Tree Herder). Thanks to Pete for an enjoyable and challenging game to wake both of us up for the tournament, and to Neil for painting the great-looking Naiads for this army.

As for my play, overall I'm happy with how the army is running and how I played it. I did mess up one or two things, I shouldn't have exposed the Godspeakers, even though that ended in my favour. 

I  really should have bane-chanted the Morax when they charged the Tree Herder that was a really stupid decision that my opponent noted almost immediately. I'd got over-confident thinking that 5+ would be enough. But never mind.

I got very lucky breaking that Naiad horde, but to my mind that balanced out the pretty good regen rolls they were getting, still that was a big blow for Pete.

One thing that I couldn't have done anything about was the Skulks wavering. This was a pain as it stalled my advance in the first two turns, knowing me though it probably also prevented me from exposing a flank to the Wyrmriders so it might have worked out well.

This leaves the final decision to drop the token (which I moronically called a prisoners' dilemma, someone slap me for being an idiot). One of the other players commented that this showed mild risk-adverse behaviour and he's right. 

If I had held onto the token I would have had a slightly better than 50% chance of winning the game - 50/50 with turn 7 + approximately 1/18 for the Ax horde surviving. The Naiads would have dealt an average of 6 wounds if bane chanted, with 3 more from the hindered Bray-striders and 2 - 3 from the Unicorn. This would have put them at 19 or 20 wounds, meaning a 2 or 3 twice would break them, not great odds. Given that I thought I was behind on kill points, I preferred the safe 5 - 6 tournament points rather than risking 1 - 2 with a chance of getting 10.

I'd like to know what other people would have done in that situation though, particularly if you think my calculations were wrong :)

The draw meant that I would either play Carson's large-infantry Forces of Nature army, or Pete's Ratkin. I got Carson, so more pathfinders and Wyrmriders next time.

Also thank you Tom Annis for telling me about Dan King's youtube report, there's only one, but it's good to see how top players use orcs.

As always thanks for reading, I'll get the next game up as soon as possible.

Battle Report 5: Orcs vs Ratkin 27/05/2017

Can the Demonspawn show its strength and slaughter some orcs this time?

Hello again, and welcome to another report between Pete (Seerlord Morskitta)'s ratkin and my orcs. This was a timed friendly game in the weekend between two local tournaments, the WWSS and Runefang IX.

Two weeks ago I had a narrow win my against Pete before being crushed. However I didn't take enough photos of the second game to do a report, so for Pete this was a chance to set the record straight, and for me it was a chance to show that wasn't just a one off.

It was also a chance for me to try out a few things before the next tournament. Firstly I wanted to try a combat group of the Giant and the two Gore Rider regiments, secondly I wanted to see if the army could handle a more open play style and see if that would allow me to get more units into combat.

I did think about playing the modified list that I'll be taking to Runefang but a combination of a long week and laziness meant that I didn't get all of the models finished in time.

Armies
Orcs
Ax Horde, Blood of the Old King 220
  - Godspeaker, banechant, heal 100
  - Wardrum 80
    - Skulk Troop 75
 
Ax Horde 205
  - Godspeaker, banechant, heal 100 
  - Giant 190

Morax Regiment, Brew of Sharpness 245
 - Flagger, Banner of the Griffin 70

Gore Rider Regiment 185
 - Flagger, mounted on Gore  65

Gore Rider Regiment 185
Troll Horde* 190
Orcling Horde* 90 




Ratkin
Shock Troop Horde 230
  - Weapon Team, storm of lead 80
  - Death Engine, vile sorcery 210
  - Warlock, banechant, Inspiring Talisman 130


Shock Troop Horde  230
  - Weapon Team, storm of lead 80
  - Death Engine, vile sorcery 210
  - Swarm Crier Lute of Insatiable Darkness 65

Blight Horde 205
  - Demonspawn, wings 340

Tunnel Slave Horde* 100
Tunnel Slave Regiment* 60
Tunnel Slave Regiment* 60 

Mission and Terrain
We rolled up the eliminate mission from CoK, in this mission there is one central token and three tokens on each player's three most expensive units. Pete's three bounties were on the Demonspawn and the two Shock Troop hordes, whereas mine were on the Morax and two Ax hordes.

Bounty is an interesting mission. Both of us needed to kill some tough units and at the same time protect our own three most dangerous units, not a straightforward task.

My plan was basically to protect my bounties at all costs and then claim the middle point at the end of the game, or at least contest it. Not the most exciting game plan but I thought it might be my best chance at victory.

There was an unusual piece of terrain near the middle of the board - a height 2 impassible.

Deployment

Pete set up as tightly as possible in the middle of the board, using his Tunnel Slaves, Weapons Teams and Blight as chaff for his elite units and Death Engines.

As I mentioned above, I wanted to test out how the army functioned playing in a more open way. To this end I deployed my Ax hordes in a way to allow them to move either side of the height 2 and use it to protect my flanks.

The plan with the fast group on the right was to threaten flank charges if Pete turned to face the Ax infantry units, and for the Giant to use the forest as cover whilst threatening a long charge.

However I quickly forgot this plan, as will become apparent.

Pete won the roll of and gave me the first turn (I would have rather gone second!)

The Ratkin keep a tight formation

Turn 1 Orcs

Thing start well for the orcs

The orcs pushed up as fast as they could, with the Orclings and trolls turning inward and shielding the Ax horde as the support units all moved into the centre to cover both.

The Skulks started off on a high, firing at the Weapons Team, doing 2 damage and waving them!

The armies face off over the battlefield

Turn 1 Ratkin

The Ratkin reposition slightly

There was relatively little movement from the Ratkin - the Blight shuffled over to allow the Death Engine to move up, and on the left the Tunnel Slaves were forced into the forest by the Demonspawn.
The Ratkin spell casters and monstrous machines quickly ensured that the Skulks wouldn't continue to pester the Weapons Team.

The ratkin keep a tight formation

Turn 2 Orcs

The Gore Riders and Giant move in but are too far away to threaten the Death Engine

Despite believing that the rats' lack of movement was the result of the Weapons Team being wavered, the orcs continued to advance at full speed.

With the Skulks dead, the Orclings were shooed in front of the orcs on the left flank, leaving the Trolls to chaff for the Ax horde.

The support units began to find themselves over-stretched by the orcs wide front, and relied on the partial cover of the ruins to support both Ax-hordes. However the Giant, Orclings and Trolls all found themselves out of both inspiration and Wardrum range

The cavalry take up positions

Turn 2 Ratkin

The ratkin gun down the Trolls

With the Trolls having wandered out into the open, the Ratkin gleefully moved their Weapons Teams into range and were joined by by the Demonspawn and Death Engines in doing 18 damage and breaking the beasts.

The rest of the Ratkin waited patiently for the orcs to be softened up.

The Weapons Teams move forward

  
Turn 3 Orcs

The Godspeakers return fire

The death of the Trolls took the orcs by surprise, as they noticed what a bad situation they were in. If they stopped their advance then the ratkin could continue to gun them down, but continuing to advance would allow the rats to take them out piecemeal.

On the right the orc cavalry couldn't risk charging into the blight, a combination of ensnare and terrain would negate the impact of a charge. They also couldn't charge the Death Engine positioned a sliver behind the two hordes, so they stopped, waiting for a better opportunity.

The Ax horde in the middle turned to face the Ratkin line and tried to keep within range of the Wardrum, Flagger and Godspeakers.

The Orclings saw a charge against the Slaves through the trees, opening up space for the larger orcs. However they didn't do much damage.

The Godspeakers, realising the threat of concentrated Ratkin shooting moved into range of the damaged weapons team and finished it off.

Let the chaff fight commence!

Turn 3 Ratkin

The ratkin guns continue to fire at the orcs

The rats repositioned their guns and the Warlock to fire at the Gore Riders, as the Tunnel Slaves were forced up to block both the Giant and the Ax horde.

One of the Shock Troop hordes also moved up to block any charges on the Death Engine.

The Weapons team, Warlock and Death Engine fire at the Gore Riders. Whilst they only did 4 points of damage, the loud noises upset the boars, wavering the unit for a Turn.

The Slave Regiment charged back into the Orclings but only did a minimal amount of damage in return.

Where will the Demonspawn go?

Turn 4 Orcs

The orcs lose their cool

The orcs' poor positioning became even more apparent as the support units continued to be overstretched. In desperation the Wardrum risked the ratkin's guns to move toward the right Ax horde.

The Godspeakers moved to both block charges from the Slave Regiment and to fireball the Warlock. However they could only do 5 damage to the wizard.

The wavered Gore Riders were blocking a charge from the other unit, and worse of all were also blocked from retreating by the steady Gore Riders. Fearing being gunned down, the cavalry decided to get some of their value back by charging the remaining Weapons Team. They manged to break it but their charge left them a massive response from multiple Ratkin units.

The Ax horde and Giant charged the horde of Tunnel Slaves through the forest but could only do 10 points of damage and failed to wound them.

On the right the Orclings finally broke the Tunnel Slave regiment and turned to face the Death Engine.

The Gore Riders break the Weapons Team

Turn 4 Ratkin

The Ratkin counter-attack

The Ratkin had a mass of good charges against several valuable orc units.

The Shock Troops, Swarm Crier, Death Engine and Blight ran down the Gore Riders. After killing the orcs, the Death Engine and Swarm Crier both advanced, allowing the Blight to reform facing the rest of the orcs.

The Tunnel Slaves shuffled over to counter charge the Giant and whilst they couldn't break him, they continued to provide a shield against the Giant, Ax horde and remaining Gore Riders.

In the middle the Tunnel Slaves rushed forward at the exposed Godspeakers (probably overjoyed that they were fighting a unit that was unlikely to ever break them) and did one damage to the shaman, disrupting him.

The Demonspawn leapt over the low ruins, at the exposed rear of the Wardrum, quickly routing the orcs, repositioning to face the rear of the Ax horde.

On the left the Death Engine rolled into the Orclings in the woods, killing enough of the diminutive orcs to waver the unit.

The Demonspawn surprises the Wardrum

Turn 5 Orcs

The orcs find themselves in trouble

The Ratkin had punished the orcs for their sloppy play, and threatened to annihilate the remaining orcs on the right and could continue to hold up the left.

The exposed Ax horde responded to the Demonspawn by backing up as far as they could, offering a flank charge instead of a rear one. The non-disrupted Godspeaker further moved to block the Demonspawn.

His fireballs had no significant effect on it however he could possibly hold up the monster for one turn, and allow the respositioning Morax to charge it in the rear.

The Giant and Gore Riders finished off the Slave Horde, and moved backward, blocking as many charges against the Ax horde as possible.

Things looked grim for the orcs!

The Godspeaker stalls the ratkin advance

Turn 5 Ratkin

The ratkin press their advantage

The Ratkin continued to press their advantage, on the right the Shock Troops massacred the wounded Giant, and the Death Engine rumbled into the Gore Riders, wavering them again.

The unengaged units advanced as far as they could. However the Slaves again failed to shift the Godspeaker stalling the Shock Troops for another turn.

Spotting the vengeful Morax, the Demonspawn decided that it'd rather be elsewhere and ignored the Godspeaker to leap behind the Ax horde.

On the left the Death Engine turning to face the Ax horde, whilst still blocking the orclings (and giving them a hindered charge). 
 

The Ratkin elite troops engage

Turn 6 Orcs

The orcs get desperate

The orcs continued to protect the Ax hordes as much as possible. The Ax moved backward as far as they could, hoping to use the forest to buy time, as the Gore Riders kept their position, blocking the Death Engine.

In desperation, the Mounted Flagger and Godspeaker managed to ground the monster, limiting its charge options and hopefully giving the Morax a chance to charge it

The Orclings charged the Death Engine as the left Ax horde gave up on seeing combat and settled down for a rest in the other forest.
  

The slaves and Godspeaker up close and personal

Turn 6 Ratkin

The Gore Riders continue to waver

The Demonspawn decided to charge through the Godspeaker and advanced enough to hit the Ax horde in the rear. This, combined with a front charge from the Shock Troops, was more than enough to break the orcs, and both units turned to face the Morax.

The Slaves again failed to break the Godspeaker, leaving their frustrated Shock Troops waiting behind them.

On the Left the Death Engine crushed the rest of the orclings and backed off slightly showing its front to the Ax horde in the forest.

The other Death Engine again wavered the Gore Riders, failing to claim their victory points.

As things stood the ratkin had won, but we rolled off and there would be a turn 7, giving the orcs a sliver of a chance of getting a draw...

The Demonspawn in a good position

Turn 7 Orcs
 

The orcs' last chance...

In order to claim a draw, the Morax would need to break the Shock Troops, and then survive the charge of the Demonspawn, and potentially the Tunnel Slave regiment as well. It was unlikely but not impossible.

The Flagger advanced to block the Blight from charging the Morax should the Shock Troops break, as the Godspeaker repositioned to continue chaffing up the Tunnel Slaves.

As it was the Morax under-performed, doing a total of 12 damage and failing to roll the double sixes needed to break the Shock Troops, giving the Ratkin victory!
 

 The orcs last gambit fails to pay off

Turn 7 Ratkin

The defeated orcs are slaughted

The orcs last gambit had failed to pay off, and left nearly all of their remaining units in poor positions. We agreed to give the Ratkin their turn to see how many orcs they could kill...

...and kill they did, the Death Engine finally crushed the Gore Riders, the Blight executed the Flagger, the Slaves chopped down the defiant Godspeaker and the Demonspawn and Shock Troops made easy work of the Morax.

The orcs were run from the field, giving the Ratkin a comfortable victory at the loss of only a few slaves. 

Not a good place for a Flagger!

After-battle thoughts
That was comprehensive! Congratulations to Pete. He played well and punished me mercilessly for my poor play and definitely deserved the win. It was nice to see what this army can really do (again), and how effective the Slaves are as chaff.

Overall I'm pretty disappointed by my play, but hopefully I've got some mistakes out of my system, and learned a few lessons ;)

Trying to play more openly clearly failed. It left my units isolated and open to flank charges, and also meant that I couldn't cover them with the inspiring and Wardrum support. If I am going to play more expansively like this, I'll need more inspiring. However, I think I'll be going back to my tighter formation from now on.

Beyond that, I again failed to see the Demonspawn coming - I thought Pete would try and shoot the Wardrum down and thought it stood a reasonable chance of surviving, and totally forgot the massive flier sitting in the corner.

I also messed up my positioning and charges on the right. I panicked with the non-wavered Gore Riders and wasted them on a really stupid charge thinking they were dead either way. I knew that I couldn't break the Blight but for some reason thought that taking out the Weapons Team was the best option, rather than just retreating a few inches.

I also thought that the Ax horde and Giant would break the Slaves that turn If this had happened, it would have given me the first charge into the Shock Troops. However tallying it up I was being optimistic to say the least

The one positive I can take out of the game was that I managed to hold up a reasonably large number of points with the Godspeaker, something that I said I would practice, but I think that I need to still work on in future.

I'll be bringing a slightly different army to Runefang on Saturday and will put up reports from the games there. However I'm going on holiday next week so I probably won't be able to get any reports finished before the 12th of June. After that I'll try and get 1 - 2 done a week.