Reflections on the Hombre!
Well first of all, I want to extend my hand in gratitude to the two
guys who had the vision to get this goin', Richard Courtney and Tom
Keegan. Some of you know them, some of you don't, and if you don't
know them, I am sure you will sooner or later. The Hombre ROCKED
and if you missed it, well too bad, make sure to get yourself
prepped for next years! And thanks to all the people and companies
who had a hand in helping out the two judges!
Ok, here we go with Day 1:
I was all psyched up, and ready to do some damage. My list was
basically a MSU list, with a couple of large anvils, but they were
anvils made of lead, not iron, so indeed they could and would be
broken. I also had a few variable heavy hitters, meaning they were
more of a psychological weapon than anything, chariots that is. The
list restriction is set at 2250, so this allows for some extra
troops and basically overall more fun to be involved!
My list for the Hombre is as follows:
Worshippers of the White Worm
2250 Pts - Chaos Army
Mal' Kanar the Impure (Chaos Lord) @ 359 Pts
-Mark of Slaanesh
-General
-Chaos Steed w/Barding
-Bindings of Slaanesh
-Rending Sword
-Enchanted Shield
Phalos (Chaos Sorcerer) @ 180 Pts
-Mark of Slaanesh
-Magic Level 2
-Lore of Slaanesh
-Spell Familiar
-Power Stone
Ahrman (Chaos Sorcerer) @ 190 Pts
-Mark of Slaanesh
-Magic Level 2
-Lore of Slaanesh
-Dispel Scroll
-Dispel Scroll
5 x Chosen of the White Worm (Chaos Knights) @ 345 Pts
-Mark of Slaanesh
-Chaos Steeds w/Barding
-Chosen Unit
-Shield
-Full Command
-Rapturous Standard
2 x Pain of the White Worm (Chaos Chariot) @ 130 Pts
Mark of Slaanesh
6 x Messengers of the Worm (Marauder Horsemen) @ 108 Pts
-Flail
-Musician
-Chieftain
6 x Messengers of the Worm (Marauder Horsemen) @ 108 Pts
-Flail
-Musician
-Chieftain
6 x White Dogs (Chaos Warhounds) @ 36 Pts
6 x White Dogs (Chaos Warhounds) @ 36 Pts
6 x White Dogs (Chaos Warhounds) @ 36 Pts
23 x Followers of the White Worm (Marauders) @ 186 Pts
-Light Armour
-Shield
-Full Command
23 x Followers of the White Worm (Marauders) @ 163 Pts
-Flail
-Full Command
12 x Followers of the White Worm (Marauders) @ 89 Pts
-Great Weapon
-Musician
2 x Worm Spawn (Spawn of Chaos) @ 150 Pts
Casting Pool: 6
Dispel Pool: 4
Models in Army: 100
Total Army Cost: 2246
-There it is in all its majestic glory, andd it performed to a decent
standard, considering this is my first tourney experience, and I
never played any of these people before!
Game 1
This scenario was a kinda "obtain the item" one. But it was called
Rattlesnake Roundup. And you basically had to do as it said,
roundup the rattlers. The rattlers could only be picked up if
charged and were successfully caught. The rattlers automatically
attempt to flee when charged, and they run 1d3 away from the
charger. Also they inflicted 1d3 poison attacks if I remember
correctly, and were often killers of characters and a few generals
from what I hear!
Ok here it is how I came to find my opponent. I was dilly dallying
along, looking along tables for the name of my opponent; it was all
random you see. And to make it all better for everyone, the locals
were in a different pile of names, as were the visitors, so everyone
got to face a person that they normally do not face. Well I had
been thinking to myself the previous night at the open gaming
night, "wouldn't it be funny if I had to play Bowman in the first
game?" I laughed to myself thinking the odds of that happening were
not possible. Well as I found my name, I glanced over to the other
side of the table, and took a gander at the name of my opponent,
Dave Bowman…… What in tarnation!?!?!? First thoughts to enter my
mind were TREACHERY and IS THIS A SET UP!? I pondered over this for
a moment, and then found myself welcoming the battle. I had heard
it was his Chaos Dwarves, and I had always wanted to see him on the
opposite board edge with that beautifully painted army glooming up
at me (they are kinda short you see). Minutes later he arrived, Mr.
6'5", he did not look like a Chaos Dwarf player, although I had seen
his pic in a mag before, I did not realize I would have to crane my
neck upwards to look him in the eye me being a measly 5'7". Ah
well, it would be fun! Throughout the game he tried to get me to
join his communist cause, but Slaanesh loves the freedom to indulge.
Here is a short summary of his list:
-Dwarf Hero-Sword of Might, Heavy Armor, annd Shield.
-Chaos Dwarf Lord in a Flying Contraption ((Great Taurus)-Great
Weapon and Armor of the Furnace
-Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer-2xDispel Scroll
-Bull Centaur Hero-Armor if Ghazrak, Gauntllets of the Cruel, and
Great Weapon
-3 x units of 15 Blunderbusses w/Standard
-1 x unit of 10 Hobgoblin Wolf Riders w/Ligght Armor, Shield,
Musician, and Standard
-2 x Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers
-1 x unit of 30 Sneaky Gits w/extra hand weeapons and poison attacks
-1 x EarthShaker
-1 x unit of 10 Bull Centaurs w/Standard annd Champ, Heavy Armor,
Shield, and Great Weapon
Summary of the game:
His Earthshaker did its job; it prevented me from making any March
Moves with my Knights, 2 units of Warhounds, and 1 unit of Marauder
Horsemen. There went my hammer basically! So to I had to take the
remaining two Knights (Standard Bearer and Lord) and run them around
some terrain towards the middle of the battlefield. His Great
Taurus ran up my left side, and basically just vied for positioning,
waiting for a massive flank charge into 2 units of 23 Marauders,
both with Sorcerers in them! I did not take notes on any of my
battles, so therefore I will go into just what the effects of the
battle were. The remaining Knights took out the unit of Sneaky
Gits, doing I think 8 total wounds for combat res, the Lord doing 5
in a challenge and the Standard Bearer inflicting wounds with all of
the attacks including the horse! The resulting break, caused a
panic test in I think 3 units, a unit of Bowman's holding a
rattlesnake dropped it and ran! His Great Taurus rolled up my
middle, taking out about 700-800 points worth of troops and
characters and 2 standards! A unit of Warhounds and a unit of
Marauder Horsemen took out his full unit of Bull Centaurs! Talk
about a surprise! His S8 Bull centaur Hero turned one of my
chariots into tinder, and basically he ended up in my deployment
zone. But he was dealt with by a unit of Great Weapon Marauders I
think!
Everything resulted in a Solid Loss for me, but a game that was fun
nonetheless.
Overall a wonderful game, Dave was a gentleman at all times, and we
worked with each other, knowing mistakes can happen. He is a model
of a player that should be present at all tourneys; I enjoyed the
game, and hope to do it again! Oh and I have to say you had an
awesome painted army!
Game 2
Second game of the day, and I was rarin' to go! The scenario was
Texas Tornado. It will forever be known that Joe Thyne, sponsor of
this scenario, will from now on be name Tornado Joe! It was simple,
the Tornado started in the very center of the board, and on every
turn it moves! The tornado was printed on a cd, and numbers were
found all along its edge. At the beginning of your turn, before
charges or anything happens, the tornado must move. You did this by
rolling a d6 for the direction, and then 3d6 to see how many inches
it moved. The tornado itself could not hurt anyone, but it could
throw you places. If a unit is hit by a tornado, they are thrown
2d6 in a random direction as well. When thrown, the owner of the
unit may face them in whatever direction they wished, so if you luck
was with you, it could have thrown you in a place fit for charges or
out of charges! Units could not be thrown off the table, and the
tornado would come back onto the table edge it went off, if it did
go off the edge. This proved to be a nasty one! It also blocked
LOS, and anything within 12" of the center of the tornado could not
shoot and could only move its normal move (even skirmishers!).
I was opposite a Bill Green, a Houstonite. He proved to be just
plain fun, we had some laughs throughout the game, and he proved to
be another person I had a blast with. Also the next day he tossed
me a blister of some Chaos stuff, him being a VC player and all. I
will have to repay this act of kindness, and will do so at the next
available time. He claimed he would have brought his Dwarves, but
they were not painted and so he did not want them on the table. Oh
well, stunties shall die another day!
Here is a Short Summary of his list:
-Blood Dragon Count-Honor or Death, Red Furry, Ring of Night,
Strength of Steel, Black Periapt, and Mounted
-Wight Lord-Enchanted Shield, Talisman of PProtection, Casket of
Ages, and Mounted
-Necromancer-Book of Arkhan and Dispel Scrooll
-Necromancer-Rod of Flaming Death
-1 x unit of 29 Skellies-Full Command, Lighht Armor, and Shield
-1 x unit of 30 Skellies-Full Command, Speaar, Light Armor, and Shield
-3 x units of 12 Skellies-Champion, and Shiield
-2 x Banshees
-1 x unit of 8 Black Knights-Full Command aand Banner of the Barrows
Summary of the Game:
Well first I have to say the Tornado made things difficult.
It made things go crazy throughout the game, at one time stopping
probably the best move I could have made! I was in a very optimal
position to charge his unit of now only 3 Knights, Wight Lord, and
the Blood Dragon with my Chosen Knights and my General! The tornado
blocked my LOS so I could not charge them! Damn the tornado! Then
on Mr. Green's turn, it moved out of the way, allowing for a full
frontal charge with his hammer unit, I knew what was coming. He
issued a challenge with his Lord, I accepted with mine, because well
he was the only one who could take him on. I also wanted a crack at
popping his general so as to make his army start to crumble… This
turned out nasty, out of 6 attacks, he struck with 5! With the
powers he had, he was S8 on the charge, being T5 he wounded on 2s,
and my armor save was no longer a 0+, but rather a 5+! I failed 4
of them! Dead Lord, let us say, he then proceeded to pound down on
my Knights, and I failed most of the saves, I broke, he ran me
down! Ugh talk about a huge hurtin', that was a 900 point unit,
seeing as he got points for the general (+100 for killing him),
standard and the unit's points! Wow bummer! He waffle stomped me!
And you can see where the points went! Well here are some other
highlights. Chaos Sorcerer brought the Black Knight unit down to
only 5 strong, after annihilating several with a d6 S6 magic
missile! Talk about nasty! Bill summoned a unit of Skellies behind
my one of my marauder units, and then proceeded to successfully get
off Vanhel's, ouch!
Good game overall and it all came down to that one event, nice job
Bill! And once again thanks for the blister man; I will pay you
back somehow!
Game 3
Scenario was a Stampede; you had to get your units to the other side
of the table and off the edge. Once you go off the edge you do not
come back. If you pursue someone off the edge, you make a choice on
what you want to do, come back or stay off. You receive bonus
points based on the point cost of the unit. At the end of the
battle, VP equal to that of the unit was awarded to you if you got
it off the board edge, it had to be opposite of you! So a unit of
Knights off the board edge, with my general in it would be worth
around 700 points! I figured the best tactic for me was to take a
flank with the Knights and crash into something, annihilate it, then
overrun and keep going till I got off the edge. Most of my other
units would play as speed bumps, denying march moves, or holding the
opponent's army up so he could not get off the edge.
Third game and I was beat down and kicked throughout the day. I was
ready to try and get myself a win, and as I looked at the paper with
my opponent's name I was puzzled. I had no idea who this Scott
Filgo man was… Turns out he is a devoted of Sigmar with an
awesomely themed army! Valten is frowned upon, and leads his own
army. What makes this especially great is that the army is made up
of mostly lowly peasants and some battle brothers! He had a very
tough and huge army, numbering over 200 models, 238 to be exact!!!!
No magic and only a minimal amount of shooting, namely huntsmen and
an engineer. Talk about guts, but then I took a gander at his list,
and thought wow, he has some truly tough units, namely the one Free
Company with Valten in it! I knew I could not break the unit, it
being stubborn and all, so I figured I best avoid it!
His list:
-Valten
-Bertha Bestraufung (hero)-BSB, Banner of SSigismund, Full Plate
-Witch Hunter, Captain Graf (Engineer)-Hochhland Long Rifle, Icon of
Magnus
-2 x units of 29 Free Company w/standard annd musicians
-1 x unit of 29 Free Company w/musician
>
-2 x units of 30 Free Company w/musician
company
-1 x unit of 20 Greathammers(Great Swords) w/full command and Banner
of Valour
-1 x unit of 25 flagellants
-1 x unit of 5 DOW fast cav w/bows, musiciaan, and spears
Summary of the Game:
In short it was a whole lot of trepidation on my part to engage the
unit of free company with Valten in it, they were stubborn, and they
had a pretty nice hitty guy in there. So I prolonged the engagement
for a turn or two. My Knights were set up on the left middle and
just pushed through his unit of regular free company. I continued
onwards and remained in his deployment zone until my turn 6, and
then walked them off the edge to gain a good 700 VP. I also had my
chariot that did something similar, but to another unit, it also
went off the edge in turn 6, as well as a unit of 6 dogs. The
chariot that went off the board was running as a battlemate with my
other chariot, and they charged into a large unit of free company,
needless to say we did plenty of damage, and pushed right thorough.
But I rolled really low on pursuit with the 2nd chariot so it could
not make it off the edge. S4 horse rock!!! Ah well, about 950
points of extra VP for it. My tactic seemed to work, as Scott did
not get a unit off the edge, they were held in the middle by my
anvils, and a few other non-anvil units, dogs and marauder horsemen
(by fleeing charges). The Spawns did a good job of slowing him down
a bit. Having so many ranked units numbering at least 20, had I not
gotten to slow him down with fleeing fast cav and spawns, he would
have just went right through them and gotten off the edge. His
flagellants were in combat with a spawn for about 3 turns I think,
and this turned out to be great for me, seeing as I had no wish to
tie up my own unit with something that could care less if it died!
Great game, going through with a plan can really pay off in the
end. Scott, once again when your army is done all purdy I will be
anxious to see it!
End of Day 1 Gaming!
The games I played that day were great, as were the opponents. Also
throughout the day, Rich and Tom gave away lots of stuff; Armor Cast
terrain, GF9 templates, GW Catalog, and other goodies! After the
games came some open gaming and a few other treats. We had a pub
quiz! Talk about some useless info! Questions like what was the
province of the Empire that Gorbad Ironclaw invaded, and what was
the Beastlord Rakarth's Mount's name, Tyrion's Sword's name, and
other such questions. What turned out kinda weird was that I
actually knew a bit of the stuff, and answered. Much to my
surprise, I answered more right than any of the participants!
Goodness! I got myself 15 blisters of GW Fantasy and a Beastmen
Herd Box! Wow, all because I read some useless info in the books!
Well actually some of the questions were rules questions, so there
was some fun, all in all it was a fun quiz! We then had a Munchkin
game! Actually two games going on at once! It was great, I made
enemies real early on, and the thing was, I didn't want to win this,
I had a Munchkin set already. The winners of each game would
receive a Munchkin box set! Awesome prize guys, if you haven't
played you have to do it some day! Oh and Marty, thanks for the
alcohol man, I needed something after craving some rum all day!
Game 4
This scenario was Somebody Poisoned the Waterhole! The effect was
simple, during each player's magic or dispel phase, they would
subtract d3 from their pool. Not too bad, but a roll of a 3 could
basically make my 6 powerdice almost useless, but then of course it
could also make it easier for me to cast if the opponent rolled
pretty high as well!
My opponent? Mr. Eric Malcore, another Houstonite, and buddy to
Bill Green. Great guy, we got along pretty good, and it was bound
to be an interesting game! I had not played Empire for some time
now, and was due in for a game with black powder and those nasty
detachments! His army was reminiscent of McDonalds but was done up
rather nicely. I had to say that he only had I think 7 deployments,
due to having 3 detachments. Hey Eric, good luck overseas man!
Come back safe and make sure you bring your game face! I do not
have the list, and I will just have to wing it!
His Army:
Elector Count
Captain on a Pegasus with Armor of Meteoric Iron and Great Weapon
2 lvl 2 Wizards, each with a dispel scroll
2 Units of 25(I think) Spearmen w/full command, each with a
detachment of 10 handgunners
1 unit of 25(I think) Swordsmen w/full command and with a detachment
of handgunners
2 units of 10 Knights(Not Inner Circle!!!)
2 Cannons and a Hellblaster
Summary of the Game:
Ok he got the first turn, ouch this was gonna hurt. He
started off by moving only his Knights a bit, not surprised, he had
lots of shooting. He then let off with an attempt of a few spells,
easily stopped or not cast. I think he took Fire. Then the
shooting phase…. Ouch, this hurt. His hand gunners wreaked havoc
throughout the game, causing panic in my small units of 6 horsemen
and dogs. But with my general nearby the panic was semi-
controlled. His cannons could not target my chariots, they were
behind terrain, and so were safe from that auto death! But he did
target my knights, and I can honestly say, I had the best luck. The
one time in the beginning he did hit, a 1 was rolled I think.
Whew! Also most of the time, his guesses were great, but his extra
distance was making the cannonball go over my heads! Umm lemme see
here, two chariots took out a unit of Knights, as the other unit of
Knights charged through my spawn after 2 turns of combat, good job
spawn!!! I then got to turn around and prepare to charge his
knights in the rear with my chariots, and as I declared the charge
the run after they fled! Who wants two chariots in the rear
anyway??? After some extreme shooting at the knights, they were
reduced to a standard bearer and the general. No guts, no Glory! I
charged his handgunners with the two guys, and was too close for a
stand and shoot reaction. Decimated them, and ran right though
them, behind their parent unit of Swordsmen. Uh oh, now I was in
trouble. He turned on me, on his turn, and I turned to face him to
take it head on, since I could not march move away, I was within 8"
of his unit. He charges with the Swordsmen AND the captain on the
Pegasus! Uh Oh, I am in trouble. I issue my challenge to the
captain with my Bindings of Slaanesh, and he strikes first. One
wound gets through. Oh yeah baby, I was gonna tear him a new one!
You ever heard of the sniffles? Well my guy caught the whiffles,
and boy did he whiff! One wound got through, and BAM, he has a 3+
armor save, friggin' Armor of Meteoric Iron! Damn the Empire!
Needless to say I lose combat, I break and run. I roll farther than
the flying pursuer and on my turn rally and turn around. I just sit
there waiting for him, but he does not charge me with his Pegasus
guy, figures he better stay alive eh?? = ]
Great game, and it turns out I did enough damage to pull out a minor
win I think it was. Not sure, but it was hard fought, after the
first 3 turns of shooting I thought I was through! Makes you think
to never give up, never know what could happen in the last turns of
the game! Hope to play you again Eric!
Game 5
I have to play a territory type scenario. Each board quarter is now
worth 250 points! Wow, so I know I have several units, so I figure
hide a few in each of the quarters and hopefully knock someone out
of that quarter. Banners are also important in this one, and seeing
as I only have 3 in my whole army, I had to make sure I keep all 3!
Hmmmmm, who is my opponent I wonder. I look at the paper, and lo
and behold, John Bailey!!! Jim Bailey's Bro, and all around great
guy. I had played Jim before, but never John. Turns out he is a
guy I look forward to playing again in future tourneys!!! John is
from San Antonio, and runs an Orc and Gobbo army, uh oh, I am gonna
be outnumbered. I also have to say this; it was a beautifully
converted and painted army. I know for sure next year I am bringing
a camera, too many good armies and I walk away with no pics!!! His
theme? An Orc and Gobbo Brewery, namely Bok beer I think! Great
theme, and well rounded army.
His List:
-Gobmasha Da Brew'ry Boss(Black Orc Boss)-PPorko's Pigstikka,
Enchanted Shield, Boar Chariot, Great Weapon, Heavy Armor
-Shiznit Da Brewmasta-lvl 3 Shaman, Double Dooin Doo Dahs, Dispel
scroll, in a wolf chariot
-Da Jun-yer Brewmasta-dispel scroll, wolf mmount
-Da Squig Erders(20 night gobbos)-full commmand, 3 fanatics,
-Da Wee gits(6 x snotlings)
-Da Big Keggers(28 x Big Uns)-Full Command,, Norg's Banner of
Butchery, 2nd hand weapon
-Da Keggers(2 x units of 25 Orcs)-Full Commmand, 2nd Hand Weapon
-Da Wolfies(4 x units of 5 wolf riders)-speear, shield, musicians
-Da Deliv'ry Kart (Wolf Chariot)-I think 4 crew?
-Da Stunty Pokas(2 x Bolt throwers)
-Fat Bastard (Giant)
Game Summary:
Talk about wow, this game was a tactical nightmare. It was back and
forth throughout, and it showed if you could have seen the game. A
lot of charging and fleeing with the fast cav around, and in the end
I seemed to get the better end of the deal, lucky me. But he had a
very sound plan. On the left side, I had my knights hit a unit of
Wolf Riders, wiping them out, and then proceeding forward to try and
get to one of his units of orcs. Well he put his wolf chariot
forward and blocked my way, of course I knew he would flee, and that
he did! I did not want my unit of Knights to get hit the flank by
25 Orcs, so instead I charged my general out of the unit and towards
the chariot, in hopes of getting an overrun that would put him far
enough out to avoid being charged! Well I slammed into the chariot,
and inflicted enough wounds to destroy it, then I overran, a measly
7 inches!!! Wow, now I was in charge range of the Orcs, and
Slaanesh Marked things cannot flee as a reaction! Wow, so I was hit
in the REAR by the 25 Orc unit! Well I decided to go down with a
bang, so I issued a challenge to his unit champ thanks to the
Bindings. He struck first, whiffing totally! I then dealt 5 wounds
to the Orc! I lost combat by a mere 2, due to my overkill wounds,
well I stayed! Due to his charge in my rear, he was now faced with
a unit of Slaanesh Chosen Knights in the rear of his unit! Whaddya
know? I slam into his rear and decimate that unit! I then chose to
pursue the unit off the edge of the board. Well my Knights make it,
but my general rolls low again, and he stuck out in the open. John
tried to get 2 bolt throwers shots at my lone character, and hit
with one if I recall. But he rolled a 1 to wound! Slaanesh favors
me!!! More interesting things, I had cast the spell to make my unit
of 23 marauders with HW/Shield combo unbreakable, it goes off with
irresistible, and they are just that, unbreakable. He charges with
his general in the boar chariot, but he gets the whiffles! So I am
staying regardless but he breaks from combat, due my combat res, and
I chase. But he gets away! That was the game breaker right there,
had he not charged him in, it would have been a tie! Also one more
thing, a spawn and a giant faces off! He does the thump with club,
I have to take an initiative test. Spawns have initiative 2….
Likelihood of passing, not high, but I roll a 1. Next turn, he
rolls the same, I then roll a 2 if I recall… Wow this spawn is
fast! Last turn of the game, he hits me with it, and I die! Oh
well, better the spawn keeps him tied up than the Giant running
around spreading Terror everywhere!
Anyway, it was a great way to end the tourney, a great player all
around! I am looking forward to it again!
Tournament Overview
Nothing else to say except IT ROCKED!!! If you missed be sure to
make your way to Central Texas and check us out, we will welcome
anyone who wants to have some fun! Again thanks to everyone for
coming out, and especially to the runners of this 1st Annual Hombre
Tournament! Can't wait for next year, see ya on the battlefield!!!
Later,
Armond SAWG