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Author Topic: 1000 Beasts of Chaos Vs Overlords: Loot and Plunder (Path to Glory-Completed!)  (Read 697 times)

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Offline Wyddr

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1000 Beasts of Chaos Vs Overlords: Loot and Plunder

It was hot on the steppes. It made Kraggoth's fur itch and the thick clouds of biting flies didn't help. But he knew better than to complain.

"When?" the voice was less a voice and more a rumble Kraggoth could feel in the bottom of his hooves. The Bloodkine of Maygog's Butchers - the Doombull's favored warriors, loaned to Kraggoth on the understanding he would keep them well fed.

The Bloodkine was referring to the frontier village they currently surrounded. The inhabitants - a smattering of human, duardin, and aelves, all settlers from Excelsis - had barricaded themselves inside their crude buildings of mud and stone at the moment they spotted the herdstone erected on the edge of their little town as a warning. Kraggoth could smell their fear, could hear their weakling prayers for aid - all his herd could hear it - but he had commanded them to hang back.

"Not yet," Kraggoth said. "Soon."

The skull on the end of Kraggoth's twisted staff cackled in a voice only he could hear.
Soon! Soon! The clouds shall sink to earth! Treasure even the greedy cannot see! Blood! Vengeance! All shall be yours, hahaha!

"You better be right," Kraggoth muttered. The staff had not steered him wrong yet, but its portents were often...cryptic. Prone to misinterpretation. He had the scars to prove it was not lightly trusted.

In the village, Kraggoth had let loose a single band of ungors. They had already sacked one of the fortified houses, dragging the inhabitants out to be sacrificed at the foot of the herdstone. They were currently drinking and feasting before moving on to the next. Kraggoth knew full well his entire herd - the Butchers of Maygog in particular - were watching the display with bitter envy. Kraggoth could feel their rage, their anger at being denied such delights so that some lowly half-born ungor might have them first. It was a testament to their terror of him that they obeyed at all.

A cloud passed across the burning sun - no, not a cloud, a skyvessel. Gleaming gold and iron floated down from the sky, steam billowing from its exhaust pipes. They were here. Just as his staff had promised.

He whistled, and his herd vanished beneath their camouflaged netting. The Bloodkine beside him grumbled, "Soon?"

Kraggog grinned. "Yes. Soon."


It's my third game in this Path to Glory series! We've moved up to 1000 points. My list is not optimized - my brutal defeat at the hands of the Bonereapers last game didn't leave me with enough glory to purchase all the new units I wanted/needed, so I had to make do with what I had. Still and although, I don't think the list is that bad.

Allherd Battle Regiment

Kraggog the Seer, Great Bray Shaman (General: Twistbray Cursebeast, Relic: Bleating Gnarlstaff, Spell: Tendrils of Atrophy)

20 Gors w/Shields
10 Ungors w/Spears
10 Bestigors
3 Bullgors w/Mansplitter Greataxes
Cockatrice

Doomblast Dirgehorn

Barak Zilfin Battle Regiment

Admiral Riprock (General; didn't get to see what his stuff did)
Aetheric Navigator

10 Arknaut Company w/scatter, spear, and harpoon
10 Arknaut Company w/scatter, spear, and harpoon

6 Endrinriggers

Frigate w/Skycannon, Self-destruct button (whatever that endrinwork is called)

Terrain, Mission, and Deployment
The board had a ruined building in the SE and intact (and presumably garrisonable) buildings in the NE, NW, and SW, forming a rough square. There was a rocky hill in about the center of the southern end of the table, as well.

Still playing Open Play missions, this one was a Loot and Plunder mission, deploying in the NW and SE quarters. Loot and Plunder gives each player 3 objectives to place in a deployment zone. If, at the end of a turn, you hold an objective in the enemy DZ, the objective is "plundered" and removed from the board. If you capture all three of your opponent's objectives, the game ends immediately in a major victory. Sudden Death!

I placed my three objectives all within reach of the edge of the board, making it possible for me to potentially seize all three in a big ambush move.

My opponent would be going first, so I got to pick deployment zone. I therefore chose the NW corner, which was the one my opponent set up, forcing the Overlords to deploy in the zone where the accessible objectives were. I placed my Herdstone in the NW corner and some ungors squatting on an objective in about the middle of their deployment zone, as bait. Everything else (EVERYTHING ELSE) went into ambush.

My opponent dropped his two companies on an objective apiece (one in the ruined building, one by the hill near the center) and the frigate loaded with the Endrinriggers, Admiral, and Navigator deployed on the 3rd objective in his zone.

Deployment:


Behold, the bait:


To Be Continued... 
« Last Edit: May 25, 2023, 02:27:38 PM by Wyddr »

Offline Wyddr

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Turn 1
The Overlords had the first turn, and they had a choice to make: move north and shoot the Ungors off that objective in the hopes that their forces could fan out to claim the other two before my ambush claimed their DZ OR sit back in their DZ, castle-up, and hope my assault would fail such that they could putter north when they pleased and take my objectives at their leisure.

My opponent chose the former, steaming north with his frigate and blasting the unfortunate ungors into oblivion with pistol, cannon, and carbine. In his DZ, his troops shuffled around, trying to get the most defensible position they could in anticipation of the beastly onslaught to follow.

The dwarves claimed my central objective. The other two I had? Both undefended.

The Frigate Attacks!


The Duardin deployment zone stands lightly defended


It was all Kraggoth could do to keep his herd from pouncing the moment the sky-duardin alighted and began to unload equipment - heavy cargo that would weigh them down in their attempt to run down the unruly ungors looting the north end of the village.

The ungors, meanwhile, had begun to realize their role in this battle. They formed themselves up into loose ranks - it would do them no good. Around him, Kraggoth could tell that the beastmen now got the joke he had played on their lessers. "Bait," the Bloodkine grumbled with a throaty chuckle. "Little ones as bait for littler ones...

The frigate took off, heading full speed towards the hapless ungors, its weapons thumping and roaring their anger at the beasts. The duardin left behind a token force to help the villagers secure their homes against attack. They swaggered among them like the battle was already won, like they were the heroes come to save the day.

"Now?" the Bloodkine asked.

Kraggoth permitted himself a cruel grin, "Now."


In my half of the turn...AMBUSH!


I brought everything on in the Overlord's deployment zone, all within charge range of the two Arkanaut Companies, but out of pistol range (because pistol range is only 9"). Only Kraggoth, my Great Bray Shaman, was out of range, but it was his job to hang back and secure the only undefended objective in the overlord deployment zone. Before he came on, he laid down a curse on the central Arkanauts to the tune of 3 mortal wounds to them for 1 to himself, but they rallied (using one of their abilities) and got 2 out of 3 guys back, so that made no big difference.

The main show went like this: the Bullgors charged the arkanauts in the ruined building and crushed them utterly and easily. The gors charged the central arkanauts (the ones I'd cursed) and bowled them down with the Gor Stampede ability. The Bestigors also charged them and I rolled terribly for both mobs and I only killed 6 of the 9 remaining dwarves. The cockatrice, true to form, failed its charge.

However, my Shaman looted his objective, the Bullgors easily looted their own, and I outnumbered the central dwarves such that I was able to loot that one, too - that's all three, all in one turn. Game over.

Game Over, man!


It was over quickly. Those duardin who survived the attack, quickly retreated to their frigate and flew away - so much for their heroism. Then, the beasts were given free reign to enjoy the pleasures of the little village. The smell of smoke and blood mingled in the air. The screaming would probably continue into the night.

Kraggoth paid it no heed. Instead, he searched through the discarded cargo, the chests and lockboxes, the crates and sacks, for the thing his staff had promised. Where was it? Where?

Then he found an ancient, rusty chest - something that must have been buried in the depths of the earth - marked with an ancient and corroded sigil of Sigmar, the storm-god. Karggoth smote the sigmarite lock from its loop with a contemptuous gesture and, with a kick, threw back the lid.

There, locked away and surrounded by warding runes, was the great horn of a mighty shaggoth, hollowed out and banded in brass and iron. It was cold to the touch, as though the frigid mountain air that made it still clung to its trappings. Sound this, Kragggoth knew, and no beast in a hundred miles could deny its call.

The bray shaman grinned. It had been a good day.


Post-mortem
While this was a textbook example of an overwhelming Beast Ambush and it was very cinematic in how it played out, I wouldn't call this an especially interesting game. This, by and large, was the fault of the mission. This mission afforded my opponent no good solutions. Either he sat on his deployment zone and resigned himself to a slugfest he would have trouble winning OR he moved out and potentially lose everything at the chance of winning the game. I suppose if I'd failed a few of those crucial charges, that would have been one thing, but given that most of my units get a +2 charge coming out of ambush, that seems a bad bet to make.

Anyway, I think this is an indication to us that we should finally get around to playing matched play games, which probably offer better balance. Well, I hope so, anyway. This mission was so strongly in my favor, it wasn't funny. Similar to how the last game I played (against the Bonereapers), they *also* were heavy favorites for that one.

Anyway, it was a quick game, at any rate, and looked good on the table. It also meant I completed my quest to find a new relic and the Brayblast Trumpet is now added to my roster. Summoning Gors is back on the menu!

Thanks for reading, and thanks, as always, to my opponent! 

Offline Irisado

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Thank you for the report :).  That was probably the fastest battle report that I've ever read :D.  I really enjoyed the short story.  It certainly added a lot to the report and helped to provide that rather cinematic feel that you refer to.  The actual game, as you say, was not much to write home about.  I hope that match play games make for a more dynamic contest.  I've never been a fan of these types of 'all or nothing' scenarios, even though they seem to be quite popular across a number of different wargmes.
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Offline Wyddr

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I understand the appeal, myself - sudden death makes for a tense game! The thing is, both of us had such advantages in the contest (he could have moved to take all three objectives at almost any time and I could put my whole army in his deployment zone) that the game sort of HAD to end quickly.

I think there are better balanced ways to set up scenarios like this. Additionally, my opponent was limited in his ability to stop me, since the Overlords are great for blowing stuff up and moving around, but they're REALLY BAD at board control.

I'm starting to see my list as a water-style army - it's adaptable, and I need to play to the opponent's weaknesses whenever possible. In my last battle (a drubbing by the Bonereapers), I didn't, and I paid for it.

Offline Roboknee77

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Finally I had the time to read this report and make my own notes.

This was definitely a thematic game where the Beasts Ambush ability worked great.  And I learned from the experience.  Looking back, I probably could have moved all the objective markers into the center of the board.  They had to be inside the deployment zone and six inches from each other.  It might have made a difference, since more beasts would have had to be on the board to prevent a quick victory.  But there are still a ton of Beasts to contend with regardless.  I could have possibly gone all in on rushing the Beast objectives but didn't.

I also realized I could have, with my Cunning Fleetmaster General ability, moved my Frigate back to try to help hold the center objective.

Overall, I mostly fell for Wyddr's trap.  But we keep log of our grudges, Riprock's Rangers have a score to settle with these beasts.

 


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