Battle Report - Skaven vs. Night Goblins

Jack has been down for the past couple of weeks and from a wargaming point of view I always look forward to these visits because apart from him not painting my models it gives us an opportunity to have a few games.

I had high hopes of at least one Fantasy game and one 40k game so that we could get "new" armies on the table. In the end we only managed the one but this would give jack a chance to show me how to use the "Battle Chronicles" software to post battle reports.

So 2400 points of Skaven vs. Night Goblins (with obligatory Goblin Warboss General). We drew up our armies knowing what army the other player had but no clues as to make up. Jack was obviously using the new Orc & Goblin book and came up with a list of big blocks backed by the various NG toys. After using the Skavenblight Panzer Division at Runefang i decided to use something completely different. My list was:

Grey Seer
Grey Seer
Lvl 1 Engineer
BSB
2x Naked Engineers

25 Stormvermin - FC
2x 25 Clanrats - FC
2x 40 Slaves
1x 35 Slaves
2x 6 Gutter Runners
Doomwheel
Warp Lightning Cannon
Plagueclaw Catapult
Hell Pit Abomination

Jack had:

Goblin Warboss
Lvl 4 NG Great Shamen
BSB
Lvl 2 NG Big Boss
3x 35 Night Goblins - Nets/Fanatics
2x 25 NG Archers
2x 6 Spider Riders
2x 30 Squig Herds
5 Squig Hoppers
Rock Lobber
Doom Diver
2x Fast Hitty Snotling Pump Wagons
Mangler
4 Trolls

We rolled up Blood & Glory, both with Fortitude 6. Jack chose sides and I won roll for first turn

We both set up our blocks in the centre. I wanted to use my magic and Jack to flood the centre with fanatics so that my heavy hitters would need to go through them to get into the blocks. I deployed one unit of Gutter Runners in the Tower to try and neutralise the Squig Hoppers early.

In my first turn, out went the naked Engineers to try and muddy any Fanatic tricks and give my Seers a chance to ply their trade. The General got Plague off on the central Squig Hoppers but in the process managed to wound himself, his twin and the Engineer. The Warp Lightning Cannon and Plagueclaw catapult hit the Goblin Generals unit reducing it down to single digits. Unfortunately the NG Level 2 Shamen failed his LOS and died an ignominious death.From the Tower the Gutter Runners killed two Squig Hoppers which hopefully would force them onto the defensive.

The Goblin Warboss and BSB scurried off to a safer home. Unfortunately for Jack the Squig Herd on his right squabbled drawing in the nearby NG archers. The NG on the left involuntarily decided to charge the naked Engineer and the central Squig Herd the same. The Trolls charged the other engineer who decided to flee. The NGs failed charge but the Squig Herd made it in killing the Engineer. The Suig Hoppers moved backways while the Pump Wagons and Mangler did similar.

Turn 2 saw my Doomwheel hit the Spider Riders while the Gutter Runners moved out of the Tower. My leftmost Clanrats took one for the team by charging the Squig Herd and exploding the Fanatic. This allowed the HPA to charge in support which sealed the Squig's fate.

The Grey Seer cast Plague on NG2 which caused them to panic taking the Goblin Warboss and BSB with them. The Doomwheel exploded the Spider Riders which caused the other NGs to panic, running into the centre.

The third NG unit panicked from shooting from the Warplightning Cannon and turned tail.

Fortunately for Jack, all three NG blocks rallied and turned to face the Skaven. The lone Squig Hopper disappeared off to the corner.

The Wolf Chariot charged the Slaves and the contest was drawn. The Chariot tested and held. At the same time the Mangler Squig went through the Doomwheel causing two wounds.

Both the Trolls (stupidly) and Squig Herd moved forward.

My third turn started with the Clanrats charging through another fanatic but this time the HPA came up short. The Doomwheel went into the back of the Chariot while the other Skaven blocks moved back.

The Doomwheel killed the chariot while the NG and Clanrats fought a draw.

In Jack's Turn 4 he put the Pump Wagon into the flank of the HPA causing two wounds before dying. His Doom Diver hit and killed the Doomwheel. Unfortunately however the Rock lobba exploded forcing a panic check on his Warboss unit which failed and exited the table with the BSB.

This broke Jack's army giving the Skaven the win.

Wrap Up:

So what were the lessons learned from this battle? Well Jack twice failed Ld 9 (with BSB reroll) panic tests. This cost him the game.

I learned a few things. If your general is close by you can drop your blocks on fanatics and then tag in your random movers. I think this was quite a good lesson. Happy to tuck it away for future.

Jury is out on two seers. I love it from a defensive point of view in that it gives me two +4 dispel options which means I can use them with two dice to pressure most casting attempts. If I fail it happens again....so some defensive risk is gone. However I'm not sure that two is very efficient. I'll try it again but I'm not seeing it as long term venture.

Doomwheel is still blah in 8th. Not a big fan at all. The PC is great if you don't misfire vs. goblins.

I was able to get a couple of spells off as Jack held dice to stop me skitterleaping naked Engineer into his army triggering all Fanatics. I hadn't thought of it....I'm glad he had :-)

From a play point of view I'm pretty happy to confirm that I prefer a mixed army - not all combat like the SkPD or zappy like this one was. I think the Skaven compete better when they are multi-dimensional (though this was nearer the centre than the SkPD)