So the final game in the Karak Eight Peaks campaign was “Battle for the Throne Room”, a three player game involving one player from each race.
On our table was Sam with his Orcs & Goblins and Peter Williamson with Dwarfs. You used campaign points to decide who deployed in the centre (Dwarfs) and who came on from which long edge.
I’m going to say straight away that this game was some of the greatest fun I have ever had playing Warhammer and I would encourage everyone to try the scenario. If you don’t have a copy then email me at pete@thefieldsofblood.com and I’ll send you a copy.
Where the game is truly great is in the mind games you can try and play on your opponents. Alliances are forged and broken at the drop of a hat.
Some of the highlights for me in the game were:
o Sam’s Arakranok being shot and killed by Peter on the first turn. My concern for Sam was truly sincere.
o The Magic Phase becomes a three way battle. You may need to rely on the help of your opponent to dispel the other guy’s magic. I spent a number of turns trying to convince Peter that he shouldn’t dispel the “Wither” I was casting on Sam’s Warboss. Unfortunately he wasn’t sipping that Kool-Aid – and it transpired he was right to stick to his guns. It didn’t stop me trying all my tricks to get the spells through – bonhomie, promises, threats, pleading, ranting – the full gambit.
o One of Sam’s Manglers went straight through a unit of Hammerers and took out a cannon and an organ gun. This time I sympathised with peter and told him how unfair Sam was. I think he believed me.
o I’ve got to say I think generally Peter outplayed us both in this game, tying me up in knots with his reserves. This would have all been okay as I’m sure Sam and I could have seen him off. However I didn’t count on Sam’s treachery. When I was under the pump from Peter Sam turned on me and “Foot of Gork”-ed my Seer’s unit killing my BSB. I was distraught….to quote Fight Club, “I haven’t been f#@ked like that since grade school”. Filthy Greenskin.
o To save my Seer I jumped him into some Slaves and Sam saw his chance to charge and kill him with his Warboss, BSB and unit of 30 Orc Boyz. I managed to countercharge a unit of Slaves into its flank meaning CR at outset was +2 in my favour. However hard to believe that I was going to see them off. What happens next will live in infamy! I cast Wither on the unit which both guys let through. I then cast Plague which went off with IF. It killed 37 slaves (out of 80) and 17 Orcs (T3 FTW). My miscast wounded his Warboss and killed another Orc for 3 more slaves. The Plague then jumped and went through 4 more units, causing much merriment.
o My efforts to save the Seer continued. I knew I had killed Sam’s champion with Plague so if I could kill his BSB then I could challenge the Warboss out. So I shot my Plague Catapult into the combat – hitting the target but misfiring (Grrrr) and then my Warp Lightning Cannon which killed his BSB and a bunch more Orcs. The look on Peter and Sam’s faces as they saw what was unfolding was priceless. Warboss is challenged by naked Engineer – who he kills and more orcs die. They are now down to two plus Standard plus Warboss. Same holds on a 6. Next round a second engineer challenges him but this time my Gutter Runners open up with shots into the combat. Finally the Warboss is left by himself. He saves 3 6+ Ward saves and holds on 7. Final turn and the Warboss challenges again. This time my Seer declines and goes to the back. Sam makes one final 6+ Ward and holds again on 7. Grrrrr…..justice certainly wasn’t done!
o In the wash-up Peter was 10-15 points ahead of Sam with me 200 points back. If Sam’s Warboss had fallen the win would have been mine.
It’s easy to say but in the end the result was irrelevant. The game was just a fantastic experience and on a knife edge throughout. Over the final turns it attracted a crowd shouting encouragement and offering advice. From other comments it appears the three other three player games all created the same buzz.
Warhammer was certainly the winner! If you’ve never played a three player game you’ve got to try one. The generic rules are in the rulebook. Check them out.
Thanks to Sam and Peter for a great wargaming experience.
I had the good fortune to watch this match and it was excellent!
ReplyDeleteHuge back and forth swings in fortune, everyone thought Pete was going to lose his general when Sam decided to ignore the dwarfs in the center and instead go for the slave unit (which lets face it would be the expected outcome). As it turns out this combat did decide the outcome of the game IMO, just not the way everyone expected!
Pete played brilliantly to keep his GS alive and was unlucky not to kill the Orc warboss which would have won him the game but in the end the wither he cast (which just kept jumping) also decimated the big unit of savage orcs which in the end meant that Sam had less troops next to the objective than Peter and gave him the win.
A great fun close game with all 3 players having chances to win it nearly every turn. If anything the "underdog" here was Peter in the middle caught between both opposing armies.
He played very well both by choosing to dispel the magical attacks on Sam's warboss (which would have handed Pete the win) and just as much by keeping a low profile and letting Sam & Pete turn on each other while putting in a very solid defence.