Alamo GT 2012 - Round 1: Warriors of Chaos

I woke up a little tired (and possibly still a little drunk after the Friday night party bus) for Round 1. As such, I was looking forward to a relatively lighthearted first game which I thought I would receive because I was under the impression that the pairings were based on army composition and I had brought a relatively fluffy list. I was mistaken. Round 1 was relatively random unless you brought a completely over the top list in comparison to the other army lists around the room. Thus, Round 1 I played this Warriors of Chaos list:

Chaos Lord (382 pts)

• General, Mark of Tzeentch, Dragonhelm, Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command, Bloodcurdling Roar, Stream of Corruption, Great Weapon, Chaos Armor, and Disk of Tzeentch

Exalted Hero (236 pts)

• Battle Standard Bearer, Mark of Tzeentch, Sword of Might, Talisman of Endurance, Soporific Musk, Chaos Armor, Shield, Barded Warhorse

Chaos Sorcerer (231 pts)

• Level 2, Mark of Tzeentch, Lore of Tzeentch, Biting Blade, Charmed Shield, Talisman of Protection, Dispel Scroll, Third Eye of Tzeentch, Chaos Armor, Barded Warhorse

Chaos Knights (510 pts) (10 models, full command, Blasted Standard)
Chaos Marauders (342 pts) (60 models, standard and musician, Mark of Khorne)

Chaos Marauders (342 pts) (60 models, standard and musician, Mark of Khorne)

Chaos Warriors (364 pts) (18 models, standard and musician, halberds, Banner of Eternal Flame)
Warhounds (30 pts) (5 models)
Warhounds (30 pts) (5 models)

Warhounds (30 pts) (5 models)

When I saw his list my jaw kind of dropped. I knew there would be some harder lists out there (especially for my particular build), but this list just set the tone for the entire tournament. While I was reading over the list my opponent made it a point to tell me that his list didn't take the Infernal Puppet or a Chaos Warshrine. And he said it in such as manner as if he was expecting me to give him bonus points or something for not taking such awesome items and units. Instead, I was thinking, "true, your army doesn't have those things but it does have 120 marauders in horde formation which would put out 40 strength 5 attacks a turn, a nigh unkillable lord, and a super destructive and also nigh unkillable chaos knight unit. So no, your army is not getting my fluff bunny vote."

Just looking at this army I felt like there was hardly anything I was going to be able to do. I could kill all 3 Warhound units and run away all game and it would only be a draw. There was no way that I would be able to kill 60 marauders. I just didn't have enough shots. My only hope was to shoot everything I had at the knight unit with the bunkered characters and hope my opponent would be unlucky with his armor saves.

What was worse than his list was my opponent's attitude. I am a very chatty player and I recognize that I can talk too much during a game. But when I am playing with my little plastic soldiers I do demand a little courtesy. Something akin to "Good morning, here's to a good game of Warhammer" or even a simple "Hello!" Instead I was treated to near silence, a copy of his army list in the middle of the board, and a demand for a copy of my army list as the first words to leave his mouth. His attitude was all business and any of my attempts at pre-game friendly banter were quickly dispelled. I didn't even get a "Good luck," "have fun," or anything remotely close to human interaction throughout this game unless it was a rules argument. If this wasn't a tournament I would have just packed my army up and found a different opponent I would have had more fun with. Instead, I was stuck with an overall bad game.

For this round we were playing Scenario 1: "Mal de Ojo!" This was the scenario in which one of your characters chooses any model in the opposing army to cast his "ojo" on. If your character kills the target of his "ojo" and your opponent's character fails to kill their marked target, you get 4 bonus battle points. For my ojo, my eagle noble chose a single Warhound model in one of his Warhound units. For his "ojo," my opponent's Chaos Sorcerer chose a Glade Rider in the front rank of one of my Glade Rider units. After choosing our respective "ojos", I determined my priorities for the game. After taking a minute to plan out my strategy, I listed my priorities as follows:

1. Kill the "Ojo'd" Warhound!
2. Kill the Chaos Knights!!!
3. Stay away from the remainder of his combat units and attempt to lead the marauders off the board to allow me to start getting behind his lines.

We rolled for terrain and I had to place all the juicy pieces of terrain (including a building) more than 6" away from the center of the board. Terrain ended up not really playing any part in this battle because it didn't impact his movement in any real way. After choosing sides, we rolled for spells. The Chaos Sorcerer got Flickering Fire and another spell that had no impact on the game. My Level 4 (who took the Lore of Beasts) got Wyssan's Wildform, Amber Spear, Curse of Anraheir, and Savage Beast of Horrors; four spells that I am always happy with in a game.

Deployment:

Deployment for this battle was rather straightforward as terrain didn't impact either of our deployments.

His deployment, from my left to right, was a unit of marauders, the knights in the center of the board bunkered with the BSB and Level 2 , the Chaos Lord, the Chaos Warriors behind the building, and then the other marauder unit. All three Warhound units were placed in the back of his deployment zone.

I deployed an eagle on my extreme left flank (not pictured), my Eagle Noble behind the trees, the Wild Riders also behind the trees next to the Eagle Noble, and my Highborn in the trees on the left flank. In the center of my deployment zone I placed the Glade Rider unit with the "ojo'd" model, then three more units of Glade Riders towards the right flank. Finally, in my right flank corner I deployed my Warhawk Riders and the last eagle.

Stupid Mistake #1: I forgot to Vanguard my units! Even after playing practice games a few weeks ago where I did the exact same thing. If this isn't an indication that I wasn't quite right in the head when I played this first game, I don't know what is. I had placed my Glade Riders in such a position that vanguarding the units forward 12" would have helped significantly on the first turn as I could have declared flee reactions to any of his charges without any real worry of being caught while preventing him from moving more than 6" forward.

I chalk up this failure more to feeling that I was rushed than anything else. After I deployed my last character my opponent picked up a dice and rolled for the turn so I just joined, not thinking until after he had won the roll-off, that I had Vanguard moves to make. I should have taken them and then re-rolled, but I didn't as we were already past that phase and I felt that any attempt to go back would be met with hostility and a bad game score. Looking back at it now, I should have just vanguarded and then either re-rolled the first turn or let him go first because I needed the extra move. And thus, with my failures already beginning, we moved into turn 1.

Turn 1:

In my opponent's first turn, most of his army moved forward at the march. The warriors blocked by the house garrisoned it, while the Warhounds stayed in the backfield. In his magic phase, he cast Flickering Fire on the Glade Rider unit marked by the sorcerer's "ojo" with irresistible force. The spell only killed two Glade Riders and the resultant magical backlash caused the Chaos Sorcerer to lose a magic level and his Flickering Fire spell. Then, with no shooting, his first turn ended.

In my Turn 1, I swung everything I could to my left flank to try and punish the knight unit. The Highborn moved to the edge of the trees to fire at the knights. The eagle and warhawks on my right flank flew forward to tempt the marauders. The Glade Riders near the right flank all swung into the center of the board.

Then, on the left flank, I tried to set up an easy double flee situation from the incoming marauders. I moved the Wild Riders into the forest so that there was enough space between them and the board edge to fit both an eagle and a unit of Glade Riders. I then moved the "ojo'd" unit of Glade Riders in front of the Wild Riders and the eagle on the left flank in front of that unit about 10" away from the marauders.

Wood Elf magic was surprisingly eventful. I cast a boosted Amber Spear on the Chaos Lord when the sorcerer failed his dispel attempt. I wounded the Chaos Lord who promptly failed his 3+ ward save. However, I only rolled a single wound on the d6. How disappointing!

Note: during my shooting phase my opponent realized that he could have taken a "Look Out Sir" for being within range of his knight unit, but that he had forgotten. He would then go on to mention this fact during the entire game and claim that he should have taken the roll despite the fact that the Chaos Lord was still on the board. I pointed out that if the lord had made his "Look Out Sir," the boosted Amber Spear would then have hit his knight unit (who was not originally within range of the spell) in the flank, and I would have then been able to possibly kill multiple knights rather than put a single wound on the lord. He then argued that it was the wound that would have been transferred and not the hit. We argued about this until I could find the rule in my rulebook (which he did not have with him) and pointed out that "Look Out Sir" rolls transfer successful hits, not wounds.

I also managed to cast Curse of Anraheir on his knight unit. We then argued about the effect of the spell and whether or not his knight unit would be forced to take dangerous terrain tests if the unit marched or charged over open ground. After arguing for about five minutes I was forced to call over the judge who ruled the spell effect in my favor. He would then complain every time I cast that spell that the ruling was wrong but that he would "live with it for this round." This was the second major argument about rules and game effects and we were still in my first magic phase.

The Wood Elf shooting phase saw a little bit of action and another rules argument! I shot the knights with my Highborn and killed 2 dropping the unit from 12 models to 10. However, in order to keep his knights within maximum possible charge range of the "ojo'd" Glade Rider unit on the left flank, he pulled two models from the far side of the unit. I pointed out that when a unit only has a single rank he has to pull casualties from both sides equally. And once again, after arguing about it for a minute, I was forced to show him the rule in my copy of the main rulebook because he did not bring his. This made three rules arguments in the first turn of the game! Finally, massed Glade Rider shooting managed to fell one more knight dropping the unit to 9 models and after pulling one knight from the left side he was no longer in charge range with his knights.

Turn 2:
Chaos turn 2 began with a single charge that saw my entire battle plan go downhill! On the left flank, his marauders charged the eagle 10" away as I had planned. The eagle fled, also as planned, and landed behind the Wild Rider unit. The "ojo'd" Glade Rider unit then failed their double leadership 8 panic test for the eagle's flee reaction. I know this was my fault for only have the BSB and not the general in range, but I wasn't expecting to fail a double leadership 8 test.

Initially I thought this wasn't that bad because all it would do was prevent the Glade Riders from moving after they rallied on my turn. But then, because the unit panicked from something other than casualties lost, we had to determine which enemy unit was closest. After measuring, it was determined that the knights were the closet unit by about a 1/4". The Glade Riders then turned center to center and fled. Not in the direction I had previously planned back towards the board edge where I had carefully spaced my units, but at an angle towards the short table edge and off the board! Just like that I had effectively lost the game as I was down 267 points. The only consolation was that the marked model was killed do to fleeing of the board and not by the Chaos Sorcerer so I had deprived my opponent of the 4 bonus objective points.

The remaining movement phase saw the Chaos Lord fly over the knights to my left flank, right in front of the Wild Riders. The Chaos Warriors left the building bringing them into the center of the battlefield. The marauders on my right flank continued their march towards my lines and the knights moved (but did not march) towards the closest unit of Glade Riders.

In my Turn 2, I declared a charge with my Wild Riders against the Chaos Lord who held. The Eagle Noble flew over the marauder unit on the left flank to start harassing the Warhounds. The eagle on my right flank flew in front of the marauders to force a charge and a possible overrun off the table. The eagle that fled from the marauder charge failed to rally and flew off the board (down another 50 points!) The rest of my army swung to my right flank and moved out of line of sight of his units.

In the Wood Elf magic phase the Level 4 successfully cast Wyssan's Wildform on the Wild Riders, but the mage's attempt to curse the knights was dispelled. Massed Wood Elf shooting then caused several wounds on the knights, but the knights made all of their armor/ward saves!

In combat, the Wild Riders managed to cause a single wound on the Chaos Lord (dropping him to a single wound left), but lost 2 of their number to the Chaos Lord's attacks. The Chaos Lord then passed his -1 leadership test to stay in the combat.

Turn 3:
My opponent began his turn 3 with a series of charges.

Both the marauders on the left flank and the knight unit charged the Wild Riders in the flanks. On the other side of the board the marauders on the right flank charged the eagle. The Chaos Warriors in the center charged a unit of Glade Riders who fled, and then redirected into another unit of Glade Riders who also fled and outpaced the warriors.



In combat, the marauders on the right flank killed the eagle and were forced to overrun off the board do to their frenzy. The right flank was now open for the Wood Elves! In the combat on the left flank, the Wild Riders failed to wound the Chaos Lord. In turn, the unit is wiped out by the combined might of the warriors of Chaos. After combat, the Chaos Knights reformed to face the Wood Elf units on the right flank while the marauders were prevented from overruning by the Chaos Lord in their way.

Wood Elf Turn 3 saw the entire army except for the Eagle Noble move around to the open right flank. Both units of Glade Riders that fled from the warriors rallied and swung outside the warriors' line of sight. The Highborn moved in front of the knights to prevent them from declaring a charge against the Glade Rider unit with the my mage and BSB. The warhawks flew into my opponent's deployment zone while the Eagle Noble flew towards the "ojo'd" Warhound unit.

In the magic phase, the Level 4 successfully cast Savage Beast of Horrors on the Highborn giving him 8, no armor save shots.

Turn 3 also saw another big shooting phase from the Wood Elves. The Eagle Noble shot his Hail of Doom arrow at the "ojo'd" Warhound unit killing the entire unit and giving me the 4 objective battle points (assuming I could keep the Eagle Noble alive). The Highborn shot at, and managed to kill 3 of the Chaos Knights dropping the unit down to only to six models. The remaining Wood Elf shooting killed off another unit of Warhounds.

Turn 4:
My opponent began his turn 4 by declaring a charge with his knights against my Highborn. The Highborn's stand-and-shoot reaction managed to kill 2 more knights dropping the unit to a much more manageable 4 models (the BSB, Chaos Sorcerer, unit champion, and unit standard). The marauders who overran off the table came back on and moved 4" to try and threaten my Glade Rider unit with the Level 4 and BSB. The Chaos Lord flew next to the Eagle Noble to try and kill him with his shout attack. The remaining Chaos units positioned themselves for possible charges on the next turn.

In the Chaos shooting phase, the Chaos Lord's shout failed to wound the Eagle Noble.

In combat, fearing my 8 strength 9 attacks (from Savage Beast of Horrors), the unit champion declared a challenge. The champion failed to wound the Highborn who passed all of his 3+ ward saves (taken one at a time). The Highborn then pummeled the champion causing 4 wounds in total, but the knights passed their break test.

In my Turn 4 the remaining Glade Rider units split up. One unit moved behind the warriors, along with the warhawks, to see the last unit of Warhounds. The unit with the Level 4 and BSB move to the side of the warriors to stay within 12" range of the Highborn. The last Glade Rider unit made a horrible mistake (as explained below) and moved into the corner below the marauder unit that had just come back on the board. The Eagle Noble then flew away from the Chaos Lord.

In the magic phase Savage Beast of Horrors was dispelled by the Chaos Sorcerer, but the sorcerer lacked the acumen to stop his unit from being cursed. In the shooting phase the Glade Riders and warhawks were able to kill off the last unit of Warhounds opening up my opponent's deployment zone.

In combat, the Chaos Sorcerer declared a challenge which was quickly accepted by the Highborn. The sorcerer failed to hit the Highborn (as he now needed 5s for being cursed), but the Highborn also failed to hit/wound the sorcerer. With no wounds caused the Highborn lost the combat by 2, but stayed, ready to fight the forces of Chaos for another turn.

Turn 5:
With the battle raging in the center of the board blocking most of his units, my opponent didn't move either his warrior unit or the marauder unit on the left flank. The Chaos Lord again chased after the Eagle Noble in another attempt to bring him down in the shooting phase. On the right flank the marauder unit reformed, expanding his frontage to 30 models across, and effectively blocking the unit of Glade Riders in the corner from moving on my turn.

Stupid Mistake #2: Moving the Glade Rider unit into the corner cut them off completely from any move after the marauders reformed. I could have easily saved this unit, and their 267 points, had I just moved underneath the knights. I realized that I had lost this unit right after I had moved them, but at this point in the game my opponent and I weren't allowing anyone to undo any game missteps even if we were still in the same phase.

In the shooting phase the Chaos Lord again failed to wound the Eagle Noble with his shout.

In the center combat, the sorcerer once again failed to hit the Highborn. In response, the Highborn drew his great weapon high above his head and smashed the Chaos Sorcerer from the saddle leaving only 2 models in the knight unit (the BSB and the unit standard) who were looking less enthusiastic about fighting a Wood Elf lord.

Turn 6:

On Chaos turn 6, the marauders that had blocked my Glade Rider unit on the right flank (because I was an idiot) charged. The Glade Rider unit (fearing for their lives) fled off the battlefield but took their banner with them so that I didn't give up an extra 25 points.

In the center combat that could just not be won by either side, the BSB declared a challenge. The BSB then failed to wound the Highborn who passed his single 3+ save, but in turn the Highborn failed to wound the BSB who passed all of his 4+ ward saves. The Highborn then successfully passed his -2 break test to stay in combat for the final turn.

In my Turn 6 I tried something brash and bold. I charged my BSB out of the unit of Glade Riders and into the flank of the Chaos Knights thereby putting him in base contact with the sole remaining knight model.

In the magic phase, the Level 4 successfully cursed the knight unit. The mage then attempted to wildform the Wood Elf BSB. After taking a few minutes to think, my opponent then used all his dice to successfully dispel the wildform. Seeking an opportunity, the mage boldly attempted to cast a boosted version of Savage Beast of Horrors in an attempt to give both my BSB and Highborn 3 more attacks at +3 strength (I threw all five of my remaining dice). However, luck was not with the Wood Elves and the spell failed to go off as I missed the 20 casting value by 1 point. Drat!

In combat the lone Chaos Knight made all of his -2 armor saves from my BSB's 3 attacks. The knight then fails to hit my BSB. In the challenge, the Chaos BSB fails to hit the Highborn who only managed to push through a single wound on the BSB as he made 4 out of 5 of his 4+ ward saves. The knight unit then passed their ensuing break test thereby ending the game with a decisive Chaos win.

So close! I was so close to killing all of those knights! It became really clear that in order to beat this unit I needed the Savage Beast of Horrors to go off on Turn 6. Or for the Highborn to hit with more than 2 or 3 of his attacks each round of combat. In hindsight, I think I would have been better of just casting the lower version of Savage Beast on just the BSB so I could guarantee the knights' points, but at the time I really wanted the BSB so that I would get the win rather than a draw.
In all, I had managed to score only 321 points (all 3 units of Warhounds and the Chaos Sorcerer) while giving up 937 points (both eagles, the Wild Rider unit plus banner, and 2 Glade Rider units). Thus, my opponent won by 616 points and preventing me from stealing 2 of his battle points. Had I managed to kill the knight unit and BSB then the game would have ended in a victory in my favor. Those two models alone were worth 861 points at the end of the game! However, I did manage to keep my Eagle Noble alive so I got the 4 bonus battle points giving me 8 total battle points after Round 1.

At the end of the tournament, after getting a full nights sleep and talking to some of the other players at the tournament I ended up giving this opponent the only Bad Game vote I gave away for the weekend. I just felt after this round, that if my remaining games were even close to this one, then I would never want to attend the tournament again. Luckily, the rest of the my games and opponents were a lot of fun and I left the tournament looking forward to next year.