Over the weekend the second of the New Zealand GTs was held in Auckland. They used the same GT pack that has been in use across Australasia this year.
I took the same Ogre list that I took to the Wellington GT. Effectively the list is:
Tyrant with Tenderiser, Mawseeker, Jade Lion
Three Butchers, one with Siegebreaker and Skullmantle, one with Bangstick and Scroll, one with Laurels and scroll
Two units of 3 Bulls
Three units of Ironguts, one of 3, two with 4
Two units of Gnoblars
Unit of Trappers
Two Gorgers
Game One – Michael Fenner (Skaven)
Michael had 3 big ranked units (30+), two engineers, a Seer with Bell, an assassin, Cannon, big unit of gutter runners and big unit of night runners.
The army was very magic heavy – I think he said 13 PD.
I moved my full army up towards him and then peppered him with the Ogre panic spell until he eventually failed a test. He lost both his slaves and night runners to this tactic and I was able to kill off his ratling guns with bangstick and magic missile. I will say my dice were very good this game (and indeed the whole tournament bar one or two notable exceptions).
Once I had reduced his units I was able to set up a flank charge on the bell unit and then turn to face the assassin led gutter runners.
At the end I wiped out the army for the loss of a unit of Gnoblars.
Game Two – David Grant (Bretonnians)
There had been a bit of banter across various forums in the lead up to this GT with Dave. Dave is a recent arrival from the UK and had a very nice Bret army themed around a dragon-slaying theme.
My memories of this game are of “Defeat snatched from the jaws of Victory”. I managed to get well on top early getting his trebuchet, yeomen, some archers, Pegasus knights, KotR and Lord early on. Again I felt my dice were very good and I had bantered Dave into letting some spells through on his Lord which were enough to kill the ponsey git.
And then it all went wrong….and how!
Dave tied me up with his Pegasus hero which stopped me organizing my defence for the coming charge. I managed to get off a few magic shots and some sharp stuff to try and kill him but he shrugged it off.
The yeomen and archers who were both 1-2” from the board edge rallied and were able to quarter grab on Turn 6. However the main event was in the centre. When Dave’s knights hit the Grail knights went straight through a unit of Ironguts while the other unit got held up in the first combat round. I needed to get off a spell to try and beat them in the second round but my Butcher with Siegebreaker was on two wounds. I successfully got off Toothcracker rolling a “9” and smiled smugly as Dave had a single die left. My smugness turned to aghast horror as he pulled out the Silver Mirror and explained what it did. Butcher now on 1 wound. No worries, I can cast Trollguts and get Regeneration……oh sh#t, that will kill my Str 7 guy. I bottled and didn’t do it…in retrospect I should have.
Dave spent the last turn mopping up some easy VPs and at the end was 484 points ahead. So a Minor Loss.
Curses!!! I’ll get you next time! Very disappointed we didn't see you Saturday night. Piker.
Game Three – Paul Monk (Night Goblins)
Paul had a great Night Goblin army. Led by Skarsnik he had five big blocks of NGs, a block of Archers, two squig herds, a unit of hoppers and two chukkas. Sprinkled through the units were (I think) 15 Fanatics.
To combat the Fanatic ones I deployed one unit of gnoblars and the trappers across the front of my army. The other unit of gnoblars knowing of my plan decided to turn up late!!!!!
As mentioned earlier I had good dice for 95% of the weekend….unfortunately Paul didn’t. On every turn one of his two shamans squabbled so his magic offence was limited. I was able to destroy the goblin herders on one herd and they exploded 9” affecting 5 units. As the Fanatics were released they culled the gnoblars but then Paul’s amazing run of doubles came into play.
His hoppers destroyed the trappers before they were hit by a unit of bulls. The gorger cleaned out the two chukkas and I was able to turn a flank and then run along his line with two units of IGs.
The last couple of turns were nasty for the NGs and I ended up with a pretty solid massacre win.
Game Four – Rob Sadler (Empire)
Rob had won the NiCon Fantasy competition with his Empire army. It was built around solid blocks of troops supported by detachments of archers, a hellblaster, a cannon and a Popemobile.
I was very nervous of Rob’s shooting…as an ogre general is when he sees a warmachine or peasant with a bow. As I result I decided to play refused flank and move most of my army up one side of a wood hopefully shielding me from most of his firepower. Rob had bad luck with his hellblaster which misfired twice in the early rounds and then had little opportunity for a shot in the rest of the game. My gorger ate the cannon and then most of a unit of handgunners while Rob chipped away ogres with his magic and shooting. However the real action happened on the far side of the wood.
The Popemobile beat a unit of Bulls and pursued after them running them down. This let me charge it in the flank with a unit of Ironguts and the butcher with siegebreaker. Rob challenged and I found my guts I had buffed to Str 7 were useless. However after van Horstman I had two attacks hitting on 3’s with the Siegebreaker against the wagon. Two hits…already to start dishing matchwood…yep…snake eyes. As a result over that urn and the next I lost that Butcher and the one in the IG’s unit….not best pleased. Finally the buffed IGs were able to finish sitting around and they finished off the Popemobile and His Holiness in short order.
To make this work my second Gorger had gone on an assassination mission on one of Rob’s wizards hoping to reduce his magic defence. The gorger made short work of the magic man and then sat with his unit of Spears for the rest of the game.
While this was going on Rob was whittling away Ogres and managed to get a charge with his Greatswords into a unit of Bulls that thankfully held. I then got off a charge with my second Bull unit into the Greatswords flank and they held. This left Rob the opportunity to charge the rear of my second unit and there was much rejoicing at the Great Maw when he failed his fear test.
This meant that my flanking unit beat the Greatswords in combat and they broke and were run down….very very fortuitous. At the end there was 39 points between us for a hard fought draw.
Game Five – Grant Mathewson (Khorne Mortals)
I was drawn against the Khorne army that had disposed of one of the Thoreks early on in the tournament. He had 5 Chosen Knights led by an uber Lord, a unit of 8 Khorne Knights with 2 Heroes in it, 15 Chosen of Khorne on foot and three units of three Chaos Ogres.
Grant won the first turn and came flying across the table. I managed to reposition some gnoblars so his Chosen Knights had to charge. They ran them down and killed them but importantly were now out of the game for 1-2 turns.
With so much magic defence I was struggling to get spells off but I managed to get Toothcracker on the Ironguts with War Banner on the hill. By the end of Grant’s second turn all his units were between 3-8” away from me. So it was a case of charge or be charged.
In went the ogres and the results were mixed. On my left a unit of Chaos ogres smashed a unit of naked bulls. However next to them some bullgorger enhanced bulls managed to beat up and run down their mates. My Tyrant’s unit got the bull charge off against the Chosen foot but though they broke them they could not run them down. In the centre the unit with war banner charged the Khorne knights at the base of the hill. I was able to inflict a few casualties and while losing my IGs held due to their stubbornness. My Siegebreaker Butcher and his Ironguts took out the third unit of Chaos Ogres.
Both my gorgers had arrived and I directed one towards the fight on the hill and the other lined up on the flank of the Chosen Knights. It was here where Grant made what I think was a fatal flaw. Instead of turning his Chosen knights back into the centre he turned them to face the gorger coming on from the side edge. In the centre the Chosen foot continued to run and the IGs on the hill continued to hold due to Toothcracker (Grant failed the Dispel roll of 7 required to remove it).
My Tyrant ‘s unit shaped up to charge the fleeing Chosen Foot but the Tyrant failed his Stupidity roll and re-roll for the only time of the weekend. I had badly miscalculated my Gorger’s arc and he couldn’t charge the Khorne knights in the flank as was my plan. However his buddy tried to assassinate the uber lord but failed miserably and was cut down.
The IGs on the hill were finally wiped out but they had bought time for the Siegebreaker Butcher’s IG to flank charge the Khorne Knights and the Gorger to hit the other side, finishing off the unit. The Chosen Foot rallied but were then charged by the Tyrant’s unit and fled off the table.
On the last turn Grant repositioned his Chosen Knights and I managed to make the remaining unit of Chaos Ogres take a panic test and flee off the table.
It was a very brutal game where I managed to eek out a solid victory (914 points). I was happy because I had used what I think were the right tactics and that coupled with luck saw me through.
Game Six – Josh Warne (Tomb Kings)
Now the only army I have ever played with is Tomb Kings so I was pretty happy to be playing it in the final round as at least I had a pretty good idea of what they can do.
Josh had what I thought was a very good army – King with Destroyer, Prince on Chariot, two priests, Tomb Guard, Ushabti, Chariot unit, two units of skellies (one ranked, one archers), scorpion, catapult and a casket. He said that he had been getting some grief for having the casket but I personally don’t think it is a problem as it telegraphs your battle plan to your opponent.
Josh chose sides and put the catapult and casket on the big hill in the corner, lining up the rest of his units near his back table edge with the Scorpion patrolling behind the Casket.
His first turn killed an IG but that was it. I managed to run across the table on the next two turns and ran my Tyrant’s unit up the hill on the left straight at the catapult. On my first two turns I had used my magic missiles to whittle down the archers on my right so that the Heirophant had to leave them or risk having to take wounds. Josh made an error by moving him behind the unit on his turn three and I was able to execute what I thought was a pretty nifty trap. I drew out his dice by trying to buff the Tyrant’s unit and then opened up line of sight by using the bangstick to shoot the skellies archers. I then rolled two lots of two dice to get the missile off at the stranded priest. He blocked one but then wore 11 hits from the second one…..one dead mummy.
My gorgers came on and one lined up next to the Scorpion. Tyrant’s unit hit the catapult killing the crew and lining up on catapult and casket. In the centre two units of Bulls hit the Ushabti and caused two wounds. The Chariots with Prince countercharged, wiped out one Bull unit and forced the other to flee. Josh decided to pursue rolled low and left his chariot flank exposed to two units of IGs.
One unit of IGs hit the chariots destroying them, the Prince and the remaining Ushabti over the next two turns. They then over-run into the skelly block.
The battle on the hill proved its own highlight reel. The Tomb Guard with King charged the Tyrant’s unit in the flank. The Tyrant challenged and the King declined sending forth his champion. Much ridicule of the king commenced from the Ogre side of the table and adjacent tables. Tyrant kills champion, ogres win combat, casket survives. Next round gorger goes into flank of Tomb Guard, Tyrant challenges, king declines and lets Liche Priest take it. More ridicule. Dead priest and casket. Ogres win combat. Next phase scorpion charges gorger, Tyrant challenges and priest has to step up. Much ridicule. Tyrant attacks, airballs, King inflicts two wounds. TKs win combat, Tyrant runs but Tomb Guard and scorpion pinned by gorger. Tyrant’s bacon saved. Much ridicule of Tyrant.
The Tyrant rallies and the Tomb Guard are hit in the flank by the free unit of Iron Guts which wipes them out.
In the end a massacre win to the Ogres but a game that had so many cinematic moments.
Wrap Up
So I finished with four wins, a draw and a minor loss. I think that was a pretty respectable return with the Ogres. The winner went through with six wins and there were a couple of players with five wins. I was absolutely stoked to win Best Sport. I had picked it up at last year’s GT and it feels really nice to win it again. My Battle, Comp and Sports were sufficient to give me 2nd Overall.
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