Runefang V - WHFB Tournament Report Day 1

Good first day enjoyment wise.  After getting up early and driving down to Wellington through the Mid-Latitude Cyclone that began battering the country today I set up ready to face my first opponent.  Among the usual suspects there were a number of new faces, at least new to me, but it appears that the Wellington tournament scene remains strong and highly competitive. 

Not that many photos unfortunately as I'm relying on my phone and its almost impossible to ensure that the pics you take are in focus, consequently 75% of the ones I took were unusable.

Game 1 vs. Warriors of Chaos
Scenario - Dawn Attack
1st Turn - No

I had more combat units and a greater level of combat power than my opponent and far stronger shooting.  What I didnt have was his Magic a L4 and L2 armed with Heavens and Fire respectively.  The random deployment helped me with the majority of my army on the right flank and the majority of his on the left, only my Stonethrower was isolated.

Deployment

However, I made a big mistake deploying my Rangers in a poor position after forgetting about the Swift Reform rule.  Consequently, they had two units of Frenzied WoC able to hit them in Turn 2 after being pinned down by a Flaming Cage.  Shooting wise I couldnt take advantage of the isolated WoC units, misfired on the Stone Thrower and saw my Rangers get hacked to pieces while the rest of my army marched slowly to the rescue.  The rest of the game was a non-event with my shooting taking a few wounds out here and there but my turns largely restricted to, or focused on, dealing with constant Flaming Cages and not 1 but 3 Comets of Cassandora one at S8 that bracketed my units.

About Turn 4 with my units trying to play catch-up.  The red marker is the first of the 3 Comets

The 2nd Warrior unit managed to get into combat but was also hacked up and the Chaos Knights made swift work of my Stonethrower.  Too far away to help the Hammerers were hit time and again by magic and they along with the rest of my army wandered around unable to get into combat. End Result a 5-15 loss in a game that i should have won and could have had I deployed more effectively.


Game 2 vs. High Elves
Scenario - Meeting Engagement
1st Turn - No

Up against a Prince w. Star Dragon and Dragon Mage list on a terrain board that favoured me with hills everywhere.  However, he got the first turn which negated my shooting somewhat and made some very clever charges in the opening turns to take out my Warmachines with his Eagles, Dragon Princes and Star Dragon.  A key problem I faced was that with my ST and Cannon both using Flaming attacks his Dragon Princes and Prince all had 2+ WS against their attacks effectively making them invulnerable.

The High Elf Spears proved ineffectual as my Hammerers chased one unit away after the Organ Gun chopped through it.  My Warriors and Rangers had to reform and move back into my deployment zone to protect the Warmachines and got off some solid charges which allowed them to disrupt my opponents plans.

The Cannon, before it was destroyed by Archers buffed with the Flaming Sword of Rhuin, also managed to take out the Lion Chariot and scored a great bounce shot into the Dragon Mage killing his mount while he was in combat.  The Prince remained untouched throughout the game and I was also unable to kill the Dragon Mage.

All of the action in this game was in a massive melee in the middle of the board involving both Dragons, both units of Dragon Princes, a Great Eagle and my two units of Warriors.  These resulted in one Warrior unit getting chopped up before the other one killed off 1 Dragon Prince unit and killed the High Elf BSB and the Eagle(s).  The rest of the High Elf army managed to get away however, but not before I hacked up another of the Spear units.

End Result a 10-10 Draw again in a match that I could have won with better deployment, especially as I beat this same player (who was using the same list) 20-0 in a 7th Ed tournament albiet with slightly more shooting.

DOH MOMENT - Forgetting to roll for my Miners to come on until Turn 5!!!


Game 3 vs. Dwarfs
Scenario - Watchtower
1st Turn - No

Oh No I'm playing Dwarfs!!!! Up against Thomas gunline army - 2 blocks of Quarrellers, an Organ Gun, 2 Stonethrowers and a Cannon. He also had a block of Hammerers, a Lord on Shieldbearers and some random throw away units.  I scored the watchtower and placed the Quarrellers in it and shifted everyone else out to the right to concentrate on one side.  Also choose to deploy the Rangers as normal infantry with the Miners coming on underground.

With Thomas getting the first turn I was hoping that his shooting wouldnt work - unfortunately it did and I lost my Cannon and Stonethrower in Turn 1 along with a bunch of Quarrellers.  More shooting weakened the Hammerers before combat was eventually joined in Turn 2 when his Hammerers and Lord charged my Rangers next to the Watch Tower. This charge produced a protracted combat that lasted until Turn 5 and which also included my Runelord, his Runelord and one of his Slayers.

In the Watchtower the Quarrellers held on until Turn 4 when they were finally wiped out by
shooting - Thomas had an Organ Gun deployed right in front of the building.  This was entrenched so my shooting against it was pretty much pointless. Meanwhile my Hammerers closed in on his battleline although by now they were reduced to 18-20 models.  The Miners also popped up right behind his units and in position to charge his Warmachines.  The Organ Gun which I had been moving slowly forward behind the Hammerers also scored a few hits here and there.

The next 2 turns decided the battle (the game ending randomly at the end of Turn 6).  The Rangers couldnt hold out against Toms Dwarf Lord, Runelord, Slayer combo although they did kill all of his Hammerers.  My Runelord all by himself fled, and fled again before being sniped by Thomas's Cannon.  One unit of his Quarrellers moved into the Tower scoring him another 600VP and it was only in the other combats that I gained some momentum.

The Hammerers killed a small unit of 5 Hammerers, a Slayer and the 2nd Quarreller unit and the Organ Gun.  This last combat saw them overrun into the Watchtower and if the game hadnt ended I might have been able to recapture it as his Quarrellers wouldnt have lasted long against my BSB backed Hammerer unit.  The Miners also killed one Stonethrower and a Master Engineer but couldnt go any further before the game ended.

Unfortunately this late revival couldnt help me and the game ended in a 6-14 loss which shifted to 2-18 in his favour once the Watchtower bonus was added in. 2 more games tomorrow not sure who they will be against but suspect at least one Skaven opponent.  Unfortunately, it looks like all 4 Dwarf players are on the bottom of the table after Day 1.

Hoping to score a win tomorrow or at least to play against some different armies perhaps Bretonnians or Tomb Kings.