Alamo GT 2012 - Round 2: Vampire Counts

For Round 2 of the Alamo I got to play Kevin Hopkins. I took a picture of him but it came out too blurry. Kevin, if you are reading this, I am sorry. I will try and take better pictures in the future. But the pictures of our game came out much better, so there is that.

Kevin is a nice, younger player, who was travelling for his first ever large GT-style tournament. Though travelling for him was a quick drive south as he lives and plays in Texas. He told me this was also his first five-game tournament so he was really looking forward to playing a lot of games against people he wouldn't normally have a chance to play (which I think is one of the best aspects of Warhammer tournaments).

Kevin was playing what I expect to become a pretty standard Vampire Counts list after the new FAQ, meaning that it had good units that could tie up other combat blocks while the two (yes, two) Terrorgheists screamed their undead hearts out. When I designed a similar army I went a little more scream heavy, and did not take the ghouls or a Strigoi, but for an all-comers list, I liked Kevin's design.

I also really enjoyed talking to Kevin throughout this game about tournaments, Warhammer, and other general nerd stuff. The start of Round 2 was when the beer maiden started making her rounds so Kevin and I were able to get in some drinking throughout the game which made us both a little bit more congenial and talkative. At one point I remember I was shouting at the Terrorgheists for their amazing luck (as you will soon see). As such, this game was the antithesis of my Round 1 game, and for that I was eternally grateful.

This was Kevin's Vampire Counts list:

Strigoi Ghoul King (405 pts)

• Ogre Blade, Dispel Scroll, Dragonbane Gem, The Other Trickster's Shard, Red Fury, Dread Knight

Master Necromancer (220 pts)

• Level 4, Lore of Death, Power Stone

Vampire (220 pts)

• Warrior Bane, Enchanted Shield, The Cursed Book, Ironcurse Icon, Quickblood, Beguile, Barded Nightmare, Heavy Armor

Crypt Ghouls (390 pts) (38 models, champion)
Dire Wolves (40 pts) (5 models)
Dire Wolves (40 pts) (5 models)
Dire Wolves (48 pts) (6 models)
Dire Wolves (48 pts) (6 models)
Zombie Horde (70 pts) (20 models, musician and standard bearer)
Spirit Host (45 pts)
Spirit Host (45 pts)
Black Knights (331 pts) (10 models, full command, barding, lance, Banner of Swiftness)
Vargheists (148 pts) (3 models, champion)
Terrorgheist (225 pts)
Terrorgheist (225 pts)

There are a few things that immediately struck me as I saw this army. First, was that it had two (yikes!) Terrorgheists. These two units came with HUGE targets on their back because even with my high leadership they could easily decimate a unit a turn with their screams as my model count was so low. Second, was the unit of Black Knights. Compared with the Chaos Knights from Round 1, the Black Knights had no ward save. Thus, thanks to my altered Highborn build, this unit looked like 300 free victory points. Finally, I noticed that Kevin had a ton of chaff units which work amazingly well after the updated FAQ ruling on crumbling. These 6 chaff units could cause major problems for certain armies, but to me they also looked like free victory points as I knew that I could easily kill two or more of these units a turn with my shooting.

For this round, we were playing the Pinata! scenario. In the center of the board is a Pinata which has toughness 6, unlimited wounds, no armor save, is immune to magic, and has a weapon skill of 1 in close combat. Whoever caused the most wounds to the Pinata won the bonus objective and its 4 battle points. An additional ruling was made before the game that the Pinata was also immune to scream attacks meaning that Kevin's Terrorgheists could not harm the Pinata outside of combat. Sweet!

Before beginning the game I determined my objectives for the round:

1. Kill the Terrorgheists.
2. Kill the Black Knights.
3. Shoot the Pinata!
4. Stay away from the Crypt Ghouls and Strigoi Vampire Lord.
5. Kill all of Kevin's chaff to rack up points.

We placed the terrain in a fairly circular pattern around the board. There was a building in Kevin's deployment zone and a tower on the right flank. There were also two large pieces of difficult terrain (where were you last round terrain?) that were placed in front of my deployment zone. It became apparent after deployment that terrain would not be playing a very minimal part in this battle.

I rolled for spells and got Wyssan's Wildform, Amber Spear, Curse of Anraheir, and Savage Beast of Horrors. Kevin picked up four spells from the Lore of Death: Spirit Leech, Doom and Darkness, The Caress of Laniph, and The Purple Sun of Xerus. He also had two Invocation of Nehek spells.

Deployment:
Kevin deployed his army in a straight line across his entire deployment zone.

From my left to right he deployed a Terrorgheist, a unit of Dire Wolves, another unit of Dire Wolves on the other side of the building, a single Spirit Host behind the Dire Wolves, and the large unit of Crypt Ghouls with the Strigoi Vampire Lord in the center of his deployment zone. Behind the ghouls he placed his other Terrorgheist and his zombie bunker with his Level 4 necromancer. Two more units of Dire Wolves were placed to secure the Crypt Ghouls flank with the unit of Vargheists deployed directly behing them. On the extreme right flank Kevin deployed his Black Knights with the Vampire hero and another single Spirit Host.

For my deployment I went with a very mobile left flank and a solid hitting right flank. Both eagles, as well as the Warhawk Riders were placed in the left corner. All four units of Glade Riders were then placed in the center of the board with the BSB and the Level 4 in the two center units to maximize the leadership bubble.

On the right flank I deployed the altered Highborn on the piece of difficult terrain in my deployment zone with the Eagle Noble directly behind him. I then placed the Wild Riders so that they could swing around the building and tear up Kevin's flank away from the Terrorgheists.




Before rolling for the first turn we rolled off for Vanguard moves (see, I eventually learn my lessons). Kevin moved all of his Dire Wolves forward towards my lines. I, in turn, moved the Glade Rider units forward to begin harassing his units while the Wild Riders swung to the right of the building on the right flank to threaten the sole Spirit Host and the unit of Black Knights.

Turn 1:

I won the roll of to go first, and cautiously moved my army forwards.

The Eagles moved up a little bit and the Glade Rider units moved to start killing some chaff and earn me some early victory points. One unit of Glade Riders moved all the way over to the left flank to provide some archer fire at the Terrorgheist.

The Wild Riders continued to move carefully around the building, but stayed far enough back to avoid a Black Knight charge on Kevin's first turn (as they had the +1 movement banner). The highborn climbed to the top of his terrain piece to see the Black Knights.

In my magic phase, the Spellweaver successfully cast Savage Beast of Horrors on the altered Highborn granting him 8, no armour save shots! This may be my favorite spell to cast in the first few turns of the game. The Spellweaver then attempted to curse the unit of ghouls, but failed to meet its relatively low casting value (I rolled three 1s).

In the shooting phase the super pumped Highborn only managed to kill 2 of the Black Knights from some abysmal dice rolling (I was having problems rolling the 5+ necessary to wound). The Glade Rider units in the center of the board combined their fire to wipe out the closest 6 model unit of Dire Wolves while the lone Glade Rider unit on the left flank failed to wound the Terrorgheist. Other random Wood Elf shooting killed off a few more wolves from the second 6 pack.

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In Kevin's turn 1 he declared a bold charge with his Terrorgheist on the left side of the board against the closest eagle. I check the distance (20 1/2" away) and held (dumb!). The Terrorgheist then successfully charged as Kevin managed to roll an 11 on the dice. I easily could have fled and stayed on the board, but I didn't think he would make the charge. Sometimes I just keep forgetting that I am Wood Elves and that I should just always flee if I won't risk running off the board. This just tells me that I need many more games under my belt before I can consider myself a proper Wood Elf general! Maybe time to go back to Skaven, thoughts?

Kevin then moved the rest of his army. The other Terrorgheist flew 20" towards the other eagle, but would fall just outside of the 8" scream distance. The remaining wolves continued to advance towards the Wood Elf lines. The Spirit Host on the right flank moved towards the Wild Riders to provide a tempting turn 2 charge target and the Crypt Ghouls moved cautiously into the center of the board and the awaiting Pinata.

In Kevin's magic phase the Master Necromancer targeted my BSB with the Caress of Laniph. Kevin rolled all six of his casting dice, but luckily did not roll double 6s. I looked at my paltry 3 dice and then the Spellweaver reached into his cloak, unfurled a long parchment, and wisely read his Dispel Scroll to counter the necromancer's evil magic. The BSB turned, nodded politely in the mage's direction, and promised to not act so rashly next time and stay out of range of the necromancer's spells.

In the shooting phase the Terrorgheist screamed at the Eagle, rolled a 10, and did 8 wounds to the poor creature causing its heart to give out instantaneously. The Terrorgheist then turned to face the closest unit of Glade Riders, a gleam appearing in its dead eyes.

Turn 2:

Wood Elf Turn 2 saw little movement as the army simply tried to maximize line of sight on the unit of Vargheists that were now exposed. The Glade Rider unit on the left flank marched towards the center of the board and away from the Terrorgheists. On the right flank, the Wild Riders edged closer to the Spirit Host while still staying outside of the Black Knights' charge range.

Wood Elf magic was extremely poor this turn as the winds of magic blew low and the mage failed to cast a boosted Amber Spear at the nearest Terrorgheist.

In the shooting phase the Highborn managed to kill only a single Black Knight. Is it really so hard to roll 5s? The rest of the Wood Elf shooting, through proper use of the Banner of Eternal Flame to negate the creatures' regenerative abilities and the Eagle Noble's Hail of Doom arrow, wiped out the entire unit of Vargheists.

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Kevin's turn 2 began with another charge from the same Terrorgheist into the closest unit of Glade Riders (the ones who were previously on the left flank). I had positioned myself to be able to shoot at the Vargheists while being out of the other Terrorgheists' line of sight. As such, I could not flee the charge without risking the unit running off the board as I was 8" away. We measured the charge distance and again I was effectively at 21" requiring another 11 on the charge roll. Taking this into consideration I declared a stand-and-shoot reaction a put a wound through the creature's tough undead hide! And then the Terrorgheist completed the charge as Kevin rolled another 11!!! I was beginning to really hate that monster.

Kevin's remaining movement was fairly uneventful. The Spirit Host on the right flank moved up to the building on the right flank in front of the Wild Riders and the Black Knights moved to the side of the Spirit Host to charge the Wild Riders on the next turn. The other, more normal Terrorgheist moved further into the left flank.

In the shooting phase (as all the necromantic magical energies were easily dispelled by my mage), the Terrorgheist screamed into the Glade Riders, rolled boxcars and promptly killed 9 of them. Then the standard bearer, the sole remaining model in the unit, looked up into the giant bat-like mouth and valiantly attempted to stab the creature in the throat, but missed and was promptly bitten in two. The Terrorgheist then turned to face the center of the board.

This Terrorgheist was just going crazy! Kevin's rolls were on fire. In two turns it had managed to make two extremely large and impressive charges, wipe out two units (earning over 300 victory points in the process), and had completely crushed my left flank.

Before the scream.

After the scream.

Turn 3:
Wood Elf Turn 3 began with the Wild Riders charging the Spirit Host next to the tower and the Warhawk Riders charging a unit of Dire Wolves on the hill in the left flank. Remaining movement saw all of the Glade Rider units pull further into the right flank and away from the Terrorgheists.

In my magic phase the Spellweaver successfully cast Wyssan's Wildform on the Wild Riders (overkill for the Spirit Host I know, but I wanted to be strength 5 for the inevitable counter-charge by the Black Knights) and Savage Beast of Horrors on the Highborn. The mage then attempted to cast a boosted amber spear at the rampaging Terrorgheist but his spell was quashed by the necromancer.

After finally being able to roll some 5s in the shooting phase, the Highborn killed 5 Black Knights dropping the unit to just 2 knights and the vampire. The rest of the Glade Rider all shot at the rampaging Terrorgheist, and pushed another wound onto the creature.

In the combat phase the Warhawks killed 3 Dire Wolves and caused the remainder of the unit to crumble. Unfortunately, I could not overrun and was thus trapped on the hill right behind the normal Terrorgheist.

Over on the right flank the Wild Riders' magical attacks dissipated the Spirit Host's energy and, rather than overrun, the unit reformed to be 2" away from the Black Knight unit.

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In Kevin's turn 3 he charged the Pinata with the Crypt Ghouls.

He also charged the Black Knights into the wildformed Wild Riders as I was expecting. Go strength 5 Wild Riders, go!

What I wasn't expecting was both Terrorgheists turning around and moving 10" to the hill on the left flank to scream at the Warhawks and remaining eagle. This move effectively took the Terrorgheists out of the game as they were no longer a threat to my movement on the right flank.

In his magic phase Kevin used all of his dice in an attempt to raise more Black Knights, but I stopped the spell.

The Terrorgheists on the left flank both scream. The one closest to the Warhawks (the rampaging one) rolls a 10 and kills the entire unit! The "normal" Terrorgheist (who still has 6 wounds) rolls poorly and only puts a single wound on the eagle.

In the combat between the Black Knights and the Wild Riders, the vampire strikes first and fails to kill a single Wild Rider. The Wild Riders then direct all of their 12 attacks into the Black Knights, killing them outright. The vampire then crumbles into dust do to combat resolution (charge versus 2 wounds, banner and rank).

Over in the center of the board at the pinata combat, Kevin's Strigoi Vampire Lord with Red Fury caused 6 wounds on the Pinata pushing it 6" straight forward. The Pinata wound total at this point stands at Kevin: 6, me: 0.

Turn 4:
Wood Elf Turn 4 saw a shift in focus. The Wild Riders moved behind the Zombie Horde to charge it in the rear on the next turn and the Eagle Noble move into the zombie's flank. The remaining Glade Rider units all moved into the center of the board to shoot at the Pinata. The lone eagle moved out of the Terrorgheists' line of sight.

The winds of magic blew poorly once again preventing the mage from casting a single spell.

In the shooting phase all three remaining units of Glade Riders, as well as the altered Highborn, shot at the Pinata. The combined Wood Elf shooting managed to put 8 (yes, 8!) wounds on the Pinata pushing it towards the left side of the board. Unfortunately, the pinata was still within the Crypt Ghouls' line of sight as they were in horde formation.

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Kevin's turn 4 saw a really brilliant move. The Crypt Ghouls again charged the Pinata which was only 6" away from the unit's front. But instead of moving directly forward, Kevin, noticing that I could only push the Pinata to the left, wheeled as much as he could before making contact with the Pinata. Thus, he effectively negated any movement I caused to the Pinata last turn, or could cause on my next turn as the Crypt Ghouls would still be able to see it.

However, in a move as equally bizarre as his first move was brilliant, he moved his Master Necromancer out of the unit of zombies. I thought this was a huge mistake and I asked Kevin outright if he was sure that he wanted to leave the necromancer out of the unit. He told me that he had a plan and that he was sure it would work.

In his magic phase Kevin rolled double 1's. I successfully channelled so we both had 2 dice. He then used his Power Stone to get two more dice and cast Caress of Laniph at my Level 4 that was now within the line of sight of the necromancer (so this was Kevin's devious plan; kill my poor mage). The spell was successfully cast as I failed to roll double 6s. Luckily, Kevin only rolled a 4 on the 2d6 roll. The mage took a single hit, failed his 4+ ward save, and took a single wound, but would live on (the Master Necromancer though? I don't think so).

In the shooting phase the rampaging Terrorgheists screamed at and killed the last eagle. Sob! This single Terrorgheist had so far managed to kill 512 points; paying for itself more than twice over.

In the Pinata combat the Strigoi and his unit again caused 6 wounds to the Pinata pushing it further into my deployment zone. The Pinata wound total at this point stood at Kevin: 12, me: 8.

Turn 5:

Seeing the end of the battle coming quickly the Wood Elves had to act fast. I began my Turn 5 by declaring a charge from the Wild Riders into the rear of the zombies and from the Eagle Noble into the flank of the zombies. Both units failed to make contact and sauntered forward just a couple of inches.

The remaining Glade Rider units stayed put, but decided to split their fire in the shooting phase. The mage's unit fired retribution at the lonely Master Necromancer who failed 9 of his 4+ Look Out Sir rolls and died, pierced in a half-dozen places. His dark energy seeping out from the wounds. The BSB's Glade Rider unit, with their magical shooting attacks, killed off the other Spirit Host. The remaining Wood Elves shot at the Pinata and pushed through 3 more wounds and moved the Pinata into the rubble.

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In Kevin's turn 5, he again charged the Crypt Ghouls into the Pinata. The zombies stayed put and both Terrorgheists flew 10" toward the center of the board. In the combat, the Strigoi wounded the Pinata 4 times. The Pinata wound total now stood at Kevin: 16, me: 11. I was going to have to do something drastic if I was going to get the bonus points.

Turn 6:

Wood Elf Turn 6 sees every model with a bow move into short range of the Pinata in order to increase the total number of hits (and thereby possible wounds) I could cause in the shooting phase.

In the magic phase I cast Savage Beast of Horrors on the Highborn to give him another 3 shots.

In the shooting phase every unit targets the Pinata and I manage to wound it a total of 6 times!!! The 6" move would put the Pinata out of the ghouls' line of sight for Kevin's last turn. Huzzah!

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In Kevin's turn 6 he declared charges with both Terrorgheists into the Pinata who both made it into combat. Drat!!! Then, in the ensuing combat phase, the Terrorgheists wound the pinata 3 more times, thereby securing Kevin as the person who did the most wounds to the Pinata. The total Pinata wounds at the end of the game stood at Kevin: 19, me: 17. And with that, the game ends.

We quickly tallied up victory points to determine if Kevin would steal 2 more battle points from me for losing by less than 500 victory points. Kevin had managed to get 512 victory points from me for both eagles, the Warhawk Riders, and the unit of Glade Guard in combat (all earned by the same Terrorgheist!!!). In turn, I had managed to get 1170 victory points (the Master Necromancer, the Vampire, both 6 model units of Dire Wolves, one of the 5 model unit of Dire Wolves, both Spirit Hosts, the Black Knights in combat, and the Vargheists), giving me a victory by 658 points. So I got all 16 battle points for the win and Kevin got 8 battle points for the loss and objective. Thus, at the end of Round 2 I was sitting at a middling 24 out of 40 possible battle points.

All in all I had a good game against a nice opponent who was still learning about his army, as well as the other armies out there. Moreover, I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to not give up the 2 battle points to the Sneaky Git rule.