BAO 2013: Round #1 - Skaven

For Round 1 of the 2013 Bay Area Open, I played Chad Pond.

Chad is a member of the Barbarians gaming group out of California and also plays and travels with the Leadership 2 gaming group at several out-of-area tournaments.










Chad has been playing a very nicely conceived and painted Skaven army that is based around a Skaven clan having found and destroyed a Lizardmen stronghold. His army for this tournament included:
Warlord

• General, Biting Blade, Armor of Destiny, Dragonbane Gem, Crown of Command

Grey Seer

• Lore of Ruin, Tormentor Sword, Earthing Rod, Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon

Chieftain

•  Battle Standard Bearer, Warrior Bane, Dragonhelm, Foul Pendant

Warlock Engineer

• Level 1, Lore of Ruin, Doomrocket

Warlock Engineer

• Level 1, Lore of Ruin, Dispel Scroll

Warlock Engineer

• Brass Orb

Warlock Engineer
Skavenslaves (49 models, champion and musician)
Skavenslaves (49 models, champion and musician)
Stormvermin (34 models, full command, Storm Banner)
Clanrats (40 models, full command)
Clanrats (40 models, full command)
Giant Rats (6 models)
Giant Rats (6 models)
Giant Rats (6 models)
Giant Rats (25 models)
Warp-Lightning Cannon
Doomwheel
Gutter Runners (6 models)
Gutter Runners (6 models)

Pre-Game:
For the start of the tournament, Chad and I were playing the Meeting Engagement scenario straight from the normal rulebook. This scenario really allows armies to get into combat very quickly as there is only a 12" difference from each player's deployment zone. For this tournament, I was looking forward to getting into combat to see how my combat units would do. For a quick refresher, the army I played for this tournament can be found here.

Chad and I rolled for spells before we began deployment. His Grey Seer ended up getting Skitterleap, Howling Warpgale, Scorch, and Crack's Call. Both of his Level 1 Warlock Engineers chose Warp-lightning.

My Lifeweaver rolled well and got Throne of Vines, Flesh to Stone, Regrowth, and The Dwellers Below. My Beastweaver also rolled decent and chose Wyssan's Wildform, Savage Beast of Horrors, and Curse of Anraheir (although I really would have liked either Flock of Doom to deal with all of the small units of re-directors or Amber Spear for Chad's Doomwheel and Warp-Lightning Cannon).

Deployment:
I won the roll off and had to chose sides. I chose the side where I had all ready put my stuff as terrain would not be playing any big part of my game plan. During deployment, my Eagle, Wildriders, and a unit of Glade Riders started off the board.

My deployment was very centralized along the edge of my deployment zone as I was hoping to get into contact with Chad's army as soon as possible.


As you can see from the picture, my battleline was very short. Guarding my left flank was my sole unit of Dryads. In the center of my line I deployed a unit of Glade Riders with both mages and my BSB. I protected the flanks of this unit with both units of Treekin. Finally, I deployed my Treeman next to the Treekin on the right flank.






A strong right flank! I was hoping that these two units would really crush the Skaven lines over the course of several combat rounds.











Chad deployed further back in his deployment zone and in a very centralized formation. The only unit that started off the board was the large unit of Giant Rats and his outflanking Gutter Runners.

At the front of his lines he deployed his three small Giant Rat packs. His Stormvermin were deployed in the center with both Skavenslave units in support. Protecting the flanks of the Skavenslaves, Chad deployed both Clanrat units; one on each flank. His general and BSB went in the Stormvermin unit while the engineers and Grey Seer were split up among the other units. Finally, he deployed his Warp-Lightning Cannon behind his lines, ready to shoot at my tree-spirits.



Chad also deployed his Doomwheel way off to the side, near the back corner of the table to keep it away from his own troops.











Chad failed to steal the first turn and with a shake of hands, we began the game in earnest.

Turn #1:
I started my Turn 1 by pressing forward with the whole army. The Eagle flew on the board to protect the rear. The Wildriders made a press for the left flank behind the Dryads which had a head start. Both Glade Rider units advanced slightly, careful to stay out of the small Giant Rat units charge ranges. Finally, both Treekin units and the Treeman advanced carefully, trying to stay away from the Doomwheel while closing in on the Skaven lines.

A bad picture of my first turn movement phase (I am looking at getting a better camera soon, and hopefully I will have it by QCR).











Magic was relatively disappointing as the Grey Seer dispelled Throne of Vines. An attempt to draw out dispel dice by casting Curse of Anraheir was met with a shrug and the spell was cast successfully on the Stormvermin (who apparently weren't planning on moving all game). Finally, the Lifeweaver cast Flesh to Stone on his unit (giving the elves toughness 5 for the turn) with irresistible force. The resulting miscast then killed three Glade Riders.

Shooting was equally disappointing as the elves managed to only kill 2 rats along with the Packmaster in one of the Giant Rat units and a total of 4 Stormvermin. With a sigh, I passed the turn to Chad.

Chad began his first turn with an unexpected charge. The small rat pack with no Packmaster charged the closest unit of Treekin.

Charge ho! This was definitely going to be a one-sided combat.












The Doomwheel surged directly back towards the Skaven lines. It looked as if Chad was waiting to use it in subsequent turns, rather than sacrificing it early to try and kill the Treeman.


A lone Warlock Engineer with no fear jumped out of his unit and ran in front of my battleline, providing an additional roadblock that I would have to kill before I could make it into combat with the bulk of his army. The remaining small rat packs also moved forward to prevent my army from charging anything important. Finally, the remainder of his army stayed put, waiting to see the impact his magic and shooting would have on my army.




Chad's Giant Rat pack (the large one) also came on the board in his deployment zone facing the flank of my Dryad unit.











Chad's first magic phase was as productive as mine. I dispelled Howling Warpgale and Warplightning, but Scorch was successfully cast on the Wildriders. Four of the elves died to the cone of flame that unexpectedly arose beneath them.

In his shooting phase, Chad's Doomwheel fired at the closest unit which happened to be my second unit of Glade Riders, killing two. However, the Warp-Lightning Cannon failed to wound the Treeman as the cannon fired only a Strength 2 shot.

In combat, the Treekin easily killed the Giant Rats and reformed. First points to the elves!

Turn #2:
At the start of my Turn 2, Chad invoked the magic behind his Storm Banner causing thick black clouds to roll over the battlefield. I took this opportunity to charge several units in the hopes that I might come into contact with the Skaven line.

I started by charging the Treeman into the unit of Giant Rats which were directly in front. The rats fled to terror and ran towards the Skaven line. The Treeman then redirected into the Warlock Engineer who also fled from terror and bounced through a unit off the board. Yay, 15 more victory points for me!

The Treeman would then fail his charges and saunter forward only a few inches.




The Treekin on the left flank charged into the fleeing Giant Rat pack who were forced to flee again through several units (all of which unfortunately passed their leadership tests) and successfully redirected into the unit of Skavenslaves with the Grey Seer. It was a longer charge (I needed an 8) but the Treekin made the charge and slammed into the slaves.

The Dryads on my left flank charged the Clanrats in front of them who elected to hold. The Dryads then promptly failed the charge by rolling a 5 on 2d6 when all I needed was a 6!

Finally, the Treekin on the right flank charged into the remaining Giant Rat pack which chose to stand and hold preventing a redirect into the Stormvermin.










Woohoo! A successful charge into a very important unit. Now all I needed to do was kill all of the slaves around the Grey Seer, force the unit to break, and then run the unit down. And if I was really lucky, all of that in a single turn.









For my remaining movement, I carefully moved both Glade Rider units forward to try and have decent targets for magic and shooting. I flew the eagle next to the Doomwheel in order to force it to continue moving in a straight line.

Evil, evil, eagle trick!













Finally, I moved the Wildriders between the Giant Rat pack and the Dryads who failed their charge.











In the magic phase, I managed to roll a paltry five dice. The Lifeweaver, choosing the better part of valor, rolled all five dice to cast The Dwellers Below at the Stormvermin, but was unsuccessful.

In the shooting phase, both Glade Rider units took aim at the Warp-Lightning Cannon and managed to push a wound through on the Skaven war machine.

In combat, the Treekin on the right flank killed the small Giant Rat pack and reformed to face both the Stormvermin and a unit of Skavenslaves with the engineer carrying the Brass Orb. On the left flank, the slaves wounded the Treekin twice as I failed both the armor and ward saves (doesn't it seem like this always happens?). In return, the Treekin kill seven slaves and win the combat, but the Steadfast creatures stay in the combat.


The Treekin reformed to maximize the additional stomps that I would receive (and to guarantee that I was out of the other Skaven units' charge arcs).










In Chad's turn, the storm overhead dissipated as the Storm Banner was drained of its power. The fleeing Giant Rats, being outside the general's leadership, failed to rally and ran off the board while the Doomwheel was forced to move in a straight line thanks to my eagle placement.

Take that, you evil contraption! Stay away from my Treeman.












Unfortunately, a unit of Gutter Runners appeared on the board near the right flank.Those sneaky, sneaky rats.











Finally, the Skavenslaves on the right flank marched towards the closest unit of Treekin. The engineer with the Brass Orb cackling wildly.

In the magic phase, Chad rolled 11 power dice and channeled a dice for a 12 power dice phase. The Grey Seer started off by using 3 power dice to Skitterleap out of the combat with the Treekin with irresistible force. Chad rolled a 3 on the miscast (Sweet!), but remembered he had the Earthing Rod and re-rolls a 9 (Drat!). The wizard appears in the Clanrat unit on the far right flank.

In the shooting phase, the engineer with the Doomrocket fired the missile at the Glade Riders, but came up a few inches short (I hear Skaven have that problem!). Next, the engineer with the Brass Orb threw it at the unengaged unit of Treekin, but the orb scattered and landed behind the unit without incident.

On the right flank, the Doomwheel rolled strength 8 for its attack and killed the Eagle outright with its first shot. The next two shots killed two Glade Riders dropping the unit to 6 models. The newly arrived Gutter Runners also took aim at the Glade Riders and killed another elf. The elves then failed their panic check and fled towards my table edge.

In combat, the Treekin continued to slaughter the Skavenslaves by killing another eight models for no wounds in return. However, the Skavenslaves passed their Steadfast break test (still being Leadership 10) and stayed in the combat.

Turn#3:
Turn 3 started with several more Wood Elf charges. The Treeman charged the Stormvermin who passed their Terror test. Seeking an opportunity, the Glade Riders also charged the Stormvermin hoping to add to the carnage and break the unit in a single turn! (In hindsight, this was a really horrible charge!!!).  The Treekin on the right flank also charged into the Skavenslaves with the lone engineer (who missed the previous turn with his Brass Orb).

So many charges - the Treekin easily made it into combat with the slaves and the Glade Riders slammed home into the Stormvermin. However, the Treeman rolled double 1s on the charge roll and failed to make contact! This left the Glade Riders alone in combat with a much stronger unit (and why I should have never charged with this unit). I don't remember exactly what I was thinking but it must have been something ridiculous (or I wasn't thinking).




On the left flank, the Dryads charged into the Clanrats (finally), hoping to kill the last engineer and start chewing through the unit. The Glade Riders with the Beastweaver failed to rally (seriously!) and moved closer towards my table edge. Finally, the Wildriders moved in to support the Dryads by setting up for a Turn 4 charge.

In the magic phase, I rolled poorly for winds of magic and my sole attempt at Wildform was dispelled by an engineer's Dispel Scroll (combat with the Glade Riders was not going to be pretty).

With no shooting, we quickly moved into the combat phase. On the left flank, the Dryads killed the engineer and 3 Clanrats for the loss of only a single model in return. The rats then passed their Steadfast break test. Also on the left flank, the Treekin continued their assault on the slaves, killing another 7 models for no wounds in return. As usual, the slaves passed their steadfast test.

In the center combat, the elves failed horribly. The combined might of the Glade Riders and characters managed to only kill the Stormvermin champion and push through two wounds on the general. In return, all but the Lifeweaver, BSB, and unit standard are killed. The Glade Riders break from combat (rightfully so after such a poor showing) and both the BSB and unit standard die. This leaves me with only a fleeing Lifeweaver (which could be rallied as the rest of the unit was dead) behind the Treeman.

Run little elf, run!!!













On the right flank, the Treekin killed the engineer and 3 slaves for no wounds in return. The slaves passed their Steadfast break test.

In Chad's turn he declares a long charge with the Giant Rats into the rear of the Dryads in combat with the Clanrats.

It was a long charge, but Chad rolled well and the Giant Rats made it into combat. I wasn't worried about losing Dryads from wounds, but the +3 to combat resolution was really going to hurt (especially when I was already down 4 from the unit of Clanrats).








The Doomwheel turned to face the fleeing Beastweaver and Glade Riders who were 16 inches away and rolled a 17 for movement thereby destroying the unit outright! Ouch!!

The rest of Chad's army moved cautiously. First, seeing the Treeman coming, the wounded general  moved out of the Stormvermin unit while the unit moved up slightly to block the Treeman. His unit of Gutter Runners moved towards my fleeing mage, and the other unit of Gutter Runners appeared on the board edge close to the fleeing mage. Finally, the Clanrat unit with Grey Seer reformed to face the left flank.

This is what Chad's battleline looked like after he finished moving on Turn 3.












In the magic phase, the Grey Seer cast Crack's Call at the Treeman with irresistible force. The miscast ended the magic phase and the Grey Seer failed to reach the Treeman with the spell's effect.

In the shooting phase, the Doomwheel restrained from shooting as it would have hit the Gutter Runners. The Gutter Runners in turn all took aim at the fleeing Lifeweaver and, three 6s later, killed the mage! Finally, the Warp-Lightning Cannon aimed at the Treeman, misfired, and exploded. The general, who was no longer in a unit, failed his Leadership 7 panic check and ran away from the closest unit - the Treekin on the left flank - and almost off the board.

In combat, the Dryads on the left flank killed a few more Clanrats, but lost the combat and broke. However, neither unit was able to catch the Dryads.










The Treekin on the left flank killed ten slaves for no wounds in return. The slaves, no longer having the benefit of the general's leadership, broke and ran off the board. The Treekin restrained pursuit and reformed to face the flank of the Stormvermin. On the left flank, the Treekin killed several slaves for no wounds in return. This unit also broke from combat and was chased down by the Treekin who are now facing the flank of the Clanrats with the Greyseer!

So at the end of Turn 3, despite having lost all my magic and all my characters I was looking at several fantastic Turn 4 charges (especially with Chad's fleeing general). The Wildriders had a rear charge at either the Giant Rats or the Clanrat unit on the left flank, one unit of Treekin had a flank charge on the Stormvermin while the other had a flank charge into the Clanrat unit with the Grey Seer. Finally, I had a short charge with the Treeman into the Stormvermin as well.

As we get ready for the turn, TIME was called (WTF!!!) as one of the tournament helpers walked over to us and had us fill out score sheets. At this point it was a clear win for Chad, but I was really looking forward to my next turn. We go outside and chat, talking about the game and come to realize that we are one of the only tables that is not playing. I go to check it out and find out that time had been called only for the 40K side, but do the tournament's problems (and the fact that the tournament organizers weren't paying attention) they told the closest fantasy tables to stop despite there being an hour left in the round. Chad and I couldn't go back and pick up the game as we had already turned in score cards and moved models, but I was pissed at the organizers for this snafu. This was a game that should have gone all six turns but didn't because of organizer incompetence and just really shows how things were running at the start of the tournament.

Thus, I started Day 1 with a loss (fairly earned by Chad for killing all my characters in 3 turns). But  I think that had we been able to finish the game it would have ended in a draw as killing the Stormvermin unit (and the attached BSB) would have brought us within 100 points. This was an extremely disappointing way to start a tournament.