Round #4: Sam Valdez - "Kunnin Ruck"
For Round 4 I was playing the hardest list in the tournament, Sam's "Kunnin Ruck" list. The list is an absolute beast of death and destruction that wreaked havoc on the tournament. His list included:
- Savage Orcs (40 models with Bows)
- Savage Orc Boss
- Kunnin Ruck Battalion
- Stonehorn
- Stonehorn
- Goblins (20 models)
- Goblins (20 models)
- Savage Orcs (10 models)
- Fanatic
- Fanatic
- Goblin Wizard
- Goblin Wizard
Just looking at this list you can see how powerful it is. The boy unit puts out 120 shots in both the Hero Phase and Shooting Phase, hitting on a 4+ thanks to the character and being immune from Battleshock thanks to one of the random orcs being chosen general. Then, the two (yes, TWO) Stonehorns which get to make a run destruction move, then move and run, then charge doing 1d6 Mortal Wounds plus all the Stonehorn's attacks. Thats 12" + 4d6" in a single round to hit, then completely demolish a unit. This was going to be one extremely tough game. But I had a plan and was up for the challenge.
For this game we were playing the Border War scenario. Sam deployed the Kunnin Ruck in the center with the other orc unit in front to run towards my objective. Each flank was supported by the goblins, wizards, and Stonehorns. I deployed everything I could behind the very few line of sight blocking pieces of terrain. On the right flank was two cairn wraiths, the five man Hexwraiths, and a three man Spirit Host unit. One Cairn Wraith held the center objective. The left flank had everything else including the Morngul right at my 12" line.
Sam chose for me to go first and I just carefully moved my units up waiting for Sam to come closer while protecting my units behind the terrain. Sam then surged forward and moved his entire army up. On the right flank he took the objective, while on the left flank the Stonehorn manged to slam into my front line of Hexwraiths. A few wounds were traded back and forth and Sam grabbed 5 points. Turn 1 Score: 5 to 5.
I won priority and held back as I wouldn't be able to push Sam off the objectives and wanted to protect my army for later turns. In Sam's turn, he pressed his advantage by slamming the other Stonehorn into my right flank killing all five Hexwraiths. The other Stonehorn continued to attack the Hexwraiths, but only managed to kill another two leave five left in the unit. In the center, the big ruck unit moved forward unable to bring its arrows to bear and the foremost orc unit rushed forward but failed to charge the lone cairn wraith on my objective. Turn 2 Score: 6 to 10.
For turn 3, unfortunately, Sam won priority and charged the small orc unit into my lone cairn wraith who held, but was now outnumbered. The Stonehorns continued to run amok, but I was able to start pushing through wounds on the monsters, especially over on the right flank. However, Sam now held all the objectives and netted himself 9 points. Luckily for me, however, Sam was finally close enough to charge. In my turn the hexwraiths moved through the Stonehorn towards the goblins on the left-most objective. A unit of Spirit Hosts then slammed into the same Stonehorn to keep it occupied. The rest of my units on the left flank flew over the terrain and charged into Sam's unit. The morngul slammed into the ruck unit. A few characters went into the small orc unit to help the lone wraith, and even with the fanatic popping out a spirit host unit got into the goblins. On the right flank I ran past Sam's units to try and swing back towards his unit. In combat, I was able to drop some of the goblins on the objective but Sam still outnumbered me. Turn 2 Score: 6 to 19.
Sam won priority again and decided to take the turn to guarantee himself another 9 points. More models were killed all around, but I was not able to take any of the objectives during the combat phase. On the right flank the Stonehorn slammed into the small Spirit Hosts trying to get away while the goblins moved towards the center but were unable to help the orcs. In my turn I charged the orcs with several characters and was able to wrestle back control of my objective and also managed to kill kill them outright. On the left flank, I kept killing the goblins and the ruck and took control of the flank objectives. Turn 3 Score: 11 to 28.
I won the important priority roll for Turn 4 and pressed everything that was free into protecting the objectives I had and taking Sam's objective. The remaining Hexwraiths flew to the objective and with the help of the Morngul and the characters was able to wrestle control of that objective away. The left-most Stonehorn died, finally, freeing up the spirit hosts for the last turn. The characters hung around the center objective making sure that the goblins would have a tough combat to take that objective. Sam in turn, ran the goblins towards my objective, but by staying out of combat for the turn, he was unable to take the objective away from me this turn. The right Stonehorn left the spirit hosts and moved towards the center and charged one of the characters but do to my placement was unable to drag any others into combat or get within 6" of the objective. Turn 4 Score: 20 to 28.
I won priority again for Turn 5, which was absolutely clutch. I maintained control of all the objectives. At this point in the game Sam only had a single Stonehorn, 2 goblin mages, and the goblin unit. Unfortunately for me, they were all in a place to take the objectives if I was not careful. In my deployment zone I charged the goblins and killed them between the Banshee shouts and combat. I charged both goblin mages with two wraiths. I killed the one on the left, but with three attacks I failed to hit once on the right and the goblin survived. This left Sam with two units. The Stonehorn could not wrest the 4 point objective in my zone nor could it reach either side objective unless it rolled 2 really good run rolls, which it failed to do. Unfortunately, Sam rolled an additional 7 inches with the goblin to barely make it within 6" of the right flank gaining him a last 2 points. Final Score: 29 to 30.
This was a great game, and I had a good plan. I think had I gotten the chance to go first on Turn 3, I would have been able to stop Sam from getting those additional 9 points and limit him to probably 3 if I rolled decently. And had I managed to kill that last goblin wizard by hitting with just one of the wraith's attacks, I would have won the game. But Sam did well and kept the pressure up. I think I did the best that I could in this game by completely negating the ruck's shooting ability, but I just didn't know how powerful the Stonehorn's were and how hard it was to put 30 wounds on something in a 5 turn game. But I did keep Sam from obtaining a major victory which gave me a chance to take the whole tournament if I could get a major on the last turn and he was kept to a minor in the last game.
Round 4 Battle Points: 3
Total Battle Points: 63
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Round #5: Frank DeLoach - Destruction
For the last round I was playing another Destruction army that was not quite as powerful at the kunnin' ruck list, but was still exceptionally powerful. Frank's list was as follows:
For the final round of the tournament we were playing Blood and Glory. This was an interesting scenario as the game could end on Turn 3 if someone had managed to gain control of all 4 objectives on that turn. I deployed my army in a long line with the Morngul in the center and the units spreading out from there with at least one model from each unit within 10". This gave me a long frontage, but heavily centralized which would allow me to swing in either direction and moved towards the objectives quickly. Frank placed two goblin units on the left along with a Mangler Squig. On the right flank went another goblin unit, the last Mangler Squig and both Stonehorns.
Frank chose to go first and used his destruction run with everything to either get right passed his objectives while the big guys rushed towards my line. Thankfully, some poor run rolls prevented Frank from hitting my army with all of his big guys. Instead, only a single Mangler Squig made it into combat. I put through a few wounds and took a few in return, but all in all, it was not bad. The turn could have been much worse had Frank hit with everything. In my turn I rushed towards Frank's line. On the left, a few characters, two spirit host units, and the 5 man Hexwraiths moved up. I charged the Mangler Squig with the 6 man Spirit Host while the other units moved to try to get to grips with the goblins but got a fanatic instead. On the right flank a Morngul charged one of the Stonehorns and the rest of the army moved on trying to lock up the other Stonehorn. I moved the hexwraiths over one of the Stonehorns and caused a few wounds. The Mangler that had charged died and the Morngul put a few more wounds on the Stonehorn, but it was still pretty healthy.
Frank won the roll off for Turn 2 and chose to go for it. On the left, the big goblin unit moved forward hoping to get passed me and on my objective, but ended up charging the spirit hosts and getting stuck. One Stonehorn ran around my army looking to charge a lone character in the rear. The Stonehorn in with the Morngul ran away to back his buddy up, but didn't make it into combat. In combat I drop the other Mangler Squig, kill just a few goblins, but lose a Cairn Wraith. The objectives look pretty locked at this point. I have both of mine and Frank has both of his. For my turn, I make a bold mistake but surging onto Frank's objective units, leaving my objectives under my control, but free of models (I forgot that the game could just end on Turn 3). On the left, I engage the other goblin unit and finally start killing some goblins with the two banshee screams and the characters that joined the hex wraiths and spirit hosts. I pull the big goblin unit off Frank's objective leaving only the smaller unit engaged. On the right, I get into the other units with the hexwraiths and the Morngul beginning to work our way through the goblins.
Now here comes the big turn roll. Frank currently had more models on his objectives (which could run out of combat keeping me from killing them) and had two open objectives on my side that decent run rolls would allow both Stonehorns to take. I had control of both my objectives and one combat away from taking both of Frank's. Thankfully, I won the priority roll, killed all the goblins on the board, and won the game! This was a fast game and Frank played well by freeing up the Stonehorns from the grinding against the Morngul and Spirit Hosts and allowing them to have a chance to grab my open objectives. There was a good chance that I was just going to straight up lose this game if I lost priority so I am happy that it didn't go that way.
I won priority and held back as I wouldn't be able to push Sam off the objectives and wanted to protect my army for later turns. In Sam's turn, he pressed his advantage by slamming the other Stonehorn into my right flank killing all five Hexwraiths. The other Stonehorn continued to attack the Hexwraiths, but only managed to kill another two leave five left in the unit. In the center, the big ruck unit moved forward unable to bring its arrows to bear and the foremost orc unit rushed forward but failed to charge the lone cairn wraith on my objective. Turn 2 Score: 6 to 10.
For turn 3, unfortunately, Sam won priority and charged the small orc unit into my lone cairn wraith who held, but was now outnumbered. The Stonehorns continued to run amok, but I was able to start pushing through wounds on the monsters, especially over on the right flank. However, Sam now held all the objectives and netted himself 9 points. Luckily for me, however, Sam was finally close enough to charge. In my turn the hexwraiths moved through the Stonehorn towards the goblins on the left-most objective. A unit of Spirit Hosts then slammed into the same Stonehorn to keep it occupied. The rest of my units on the left flank flew over the terrain and charged into Sam's unit. The morngul slammed into the ruck unit. A few characters went into the small orc unit to help the lone wraith, and even with the fanatic popping out a spirit host unit got into the goblins. On the right flank I ran past Sam's units to try and swing back towards his unit. In combat, I was able to drop some of the goblins on the objective but Sam still outnumbered me. Turn 2 Score: 6 to 19.
Sam won priority again and decided to take the turn to guarantee himself another 9 points. More models were killed all around, but I was not able to take any of the objectives during the combat phase. On the right flank the Stonehorn slammed into the small Spirit Hosts trying to get away while the goblins moved towards the center but were unable to help the orcs. In my turn I charged the orcs with several characters and was able to wrestle back control of my objective and also managed to kill kill them outright. On the left flank, I kept killing the goblins and the ruck and took control of the flank objectives. Turn 3 Score: 11 to 28.
I won the important priority roll for Turn 4 and pressed everything that was free into protecting the objectives I had and taking Sam's objective. The remaining Hexwraiths flew to the objective and with the help of the Morngul and the characters was able to wrestle control of that objective away. The left-most Stonehorn died, finally, freeing up the spirit hosts for the last turn. The characters hung around the center objective making sure that the goblins would have a tough combat to take that objective. Sam in turn, ran the goblins towards my objective, but by staying out of combat for the turn, he was unable to take the objective away from me this turn. The right Stonehorn left the spirit hosts and moved towards the center and charged one of the characters but do to my placement was unable to drag any others into combat or get within 6" of the objective. Turn 4 Score: 20 to 28.
I won priority again for Turn 5, which was absolutely clutch. I maintained control of all the objectives. At this point in the game Sam only had a single Stonehorn, 2 goblin mages, and the goblin unit. Unfortunately for me, they were all in a place to take the objectives if I was not careful. In my deployment zone I charged the goblins and killed them between the Banshee shouts and combat. I charged both goblin mages with two wraiths. I killed the one on the left, but with three attacks I failed to hit once on the right and the goblin survived. This left Sam with two units. The Stonehorn could not wrest the 4 point objective in my zone nor could it reach either side objective unless it rolled 2 really good run rolls, which it failed to do. Unfortunately, Sam rolled an additional 7 inches with the goblin to barely make it within 6" of the right flank gaining him a last 2 points. Final Score: 29 to 30.
This was a great game, and I had a good plan. I think had I gotten the chance to go first on Turn 3, I would have been able to stop Sam from getting those additional 9 points and limit him to probably 3 if I rolled decently. And had I managed to kill that last goblin wizard by hitting with just one of the wraith's attacks, I would have won the game. But Sam did well and kept the pressure up. I think I did the best that I could in this game by completely negating the ruck's shooting ability, but I just didn't know how powerful the Stonehorn's were and how hard it was to put 30 wounds on something in a 5 turn game. But I did keep Sam from obtaining a major victory which gave me a chance to take the whole tournament if I could get a major on the last turn and he was kept to a minor in the last game.
Round 4 Battle Points: 3
Total Battle Points: 63
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Round #5: Frank DeLoach - Destruction
For the last round I was playing another Destruction army that was not quite as powerful at the kunnin' ruck list, but was still exceptionally powerful. Frank's list was as follows:
- Stonehorn
- Stonehorn
- Mangler Squig
- Mangler Squig
- Goblins (20 models, nets, and fanatic)
- Goblins (20 models, nets, and fanatic)
- Goblins (10 models, nets, and fanatic)
For the final round of the tournament we were playing Blood and Glory. This was an interesting scenario as the game could end on Turn 3 if someone had managed to gain control of all 4 objectives on that turn. I deployed my army in a long line with the Morngul in the center and the units spreading out from there with at least one model from each unit within 10". This gave me a long frontage, but heavily centralized which would allow me to swing in either direction and moved towards the objectives quickly. Frank placed two goblin units on the left along with a Mangler Squig. On the right flank went another goblin unit, the last Mangler Squig and both Stonehorns.
Frank chose to go first and used his destruction run with everything to either get right passed his objectives while the big guys rushed towards my line. Thankfully, some poor run rolls prevented Frank from hitting my army with all of his big guys. Instead, only a single Mangler Squig made it into combat. I put through a few wounds and took a few in return, but all in all, it was not bad. The turn could have been much worse had Frank hit with everything. In my turn I rushed towards Frank's line. On the left, a few characters, two spirit host units, and the 5 man Hexwraiths moved up. I charged the Mangler Squig with the 6 man Spirit Host while the other units moved to try to get to grips with the goblins but got a fanatic instead. On the right flank a Morngul charged one of the Stonehorns and the rest of the army moved on trying to lock up the other Stonehorn. I moved the hexwraiths over one of the Stonehorns and caused a few wounds. The Mangler that had charged died and the Morngul put a few more wounds on the Stonehorn, but it was still pretty healthy.
Frank won the roll off for Turn 2 and chose to go for it. On the left, the big goblin unit moved forward hoping to get passed me and on my objective, but ended up charging the spirit hosts and getting stuck. One Stonehorn ran around my army looking to charge a lone character in the rear. The Stonehorn in with the Morngul ran away to back his buddy up, but didn't make it into combat. In combat I drop the other Mangler Squig, kill just a few goblins, but lose a Cairn Wraith. The objectives look pretty locked at this point. I have both of mine and Frank has both of his. For my turn, I make a bold mistake but surging onto Frank's objective units, leaving my objectives under my control, but free of models (I forgot that the game could just end on Turn 3). On the left, I engage the other goblin unit and finally start killing some goblins with the two banshee screams and the characters that joined the hex wraiths and spirit hosts. I pull the big goblin unit off Frank's objective leaving only the smaller unit engaged. On the right, I get into the other units with the hexwraiths and the Morngul beginning to work our way through the goblins.
Now here comes the big turn roll. Frank currently had more models on his objectives (which could run out of combat keeping me from killing them) and had two open objectives on my side that decent run rolls would allow both Stonehorns to take. I had control of both my objectives and one combat away from taking both of Frank's. Thankfully, I won the priority roll, killed all the goblins on the board, and won the game! This was a fast game and Frank played well by freeing up the Stonehorns from the grinding against the Morngul and Spirit Hosts and allowing them to have a chance to grab my open objectives. There was a good chance that I was just going to straight up lose this game if I lost priority so I am happy that it didn't go that way.
Round 4 Battle Points: 20
Total Battle Points: 83
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Total Battle Points: 83
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I ended the day with 83 battle points giving putting me at second in overall battle points as Sam was able to snake a Major Win in the last round off my boy Fred Whitney in the last turn. Had it been a small win then Sam would have ended the day with 79, instead he took it all down with 86 Battle Points and got the ITC points. However, because soft scores (sportsmanship and paint) were added into the awards, I ended up taking home FIRST PLACE OVERALL! I'd call that a major win for my first AoS tournament. A big shout out to Urban for letting me borrow his Nighthaunt army as it wrecked face across the board and was the only reason I did well this weekend. It was definitely not my tactics.
I really enjoyed playing at the tournament and I think the smaller size (under 20) helped me dip my toes into the game and get to see its tactics and nuances without just getting absolutely steamrolled. I think I will be joining the band wagon and am looking at either getting my Death army done, or finishing some trees and transforming my wood elves into a viable AoS army.
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