Intro
As indicated above this was the 10th season for the Great
Lakes Warhammer League. Our first season was run back
in the Summer of 2001 and consisted of four divisions of six players each based
out of Pandemonium (in Garden City, MI). The league has progressively grown
since that time and we finished up the Winter 2005
season with 92 players taking part in league games with divisions spread
across
I had the opportunity to participate in the League Finals
tournament in seasons three – five, and lost to the eventual winner each time.
In season six Lee and I decided to start
putting on the 30+ player End of Season tournament and including the League
Finals as a sub-bracket in the tournament and even though I won my division the
past four seasons, I gladly gave up my spot to help put on the tournaments (We
have received tons of positive feedback on the tournaments). After the last season though, Lee and I
received a lot of feedback from the group that it was time to step out of
“retirement” at the End of Season tournament and participate in the League
Finals bracket if we earned a spot.............and after winning my Division
again I found myself actually playing this time around, instead of watching
(and an enormous thanks goes out to Lee for running the tournament almost
single handedly to allow me to do so!)
Tournament
The ladz had been bantering back
and forth for a few days prior to the tourney and it was well known that those
of us participating in the League Finals bracket would be bringing hard (but
hopefully not broken!) lists.
With that in mind, I crafted my 2150 pt
Empire army with a primary focus on hand to hand combat (using a solid amount
of shooting and magic as support) as follows:
-Elector Count, Great Weapon, AoMI,
Holy Relic, Speculum
(Leads Count’s Troops)
-Captain, Barded Warhorse, Full Plate, Great Weapon, Icon
of Magnus
(Leads IC Knights)
- Level 2 Battle Wizard, 2 Dispel Scrolls
- Level 1 Battle Wizard, 2 Dispel Scrolls
- Count’s Troops – 27 Swordsmen, Mus,
Standard w/Griffon Banner & Detachment of 12 Halberdiers & Detachment
of 12 Swordsmen
- 10 Knights Panther, Full Command, War Banner
- 9 Inner Circle Knights, Full Command, Steel Standard
- 5 Huntsmen
- 6 Pistoliers, Champ w/Rptr Pistol
- 2 Great Cannons
- 1 Helblaster
- 9 Witch Hunters (Dogs of War Duelists
w/Pistols, Champ, & Musician).
Game 1 – Akash – Wood Elves
Akash is one of the GLWL’s top generals (Akash was the League Champion back in Season 5 and defeated
my Empire army handily with his High Elves on his way to that victory) and had
also recently thrashed my Empire army pretty good at a tournament (again with
his High Elves) in March. I definitely was going to have my hands full especially
with an Empire vs. Wood Elves match-up.
Akash’s list was as follows:
-Archmage, Level 4, Hunting
Spear, Talisman of Protection, Great Eagle
-Level 2 Mage – Hail of Doom Arrow
-Level 2 Mage – 2 Dispel Scrolls
-6 Archers
-6 Archers
-6 Archers
-6 Archers
-6 Archers
-5 Glade Riders
-7 Dryads
-7 Dryads
-8 Wardancers
-2 Great Eagles
-Treeman
-Treeman
I think I was done deploying before Akash
had put out anything other than Archers and Eagles!, but as the deployment with
my Empire army doesn’t vary much (if at all) from game to game (infantry and warmachines towards the center w/cavalry on the flanks) it
wasn’t too much of a disadvantage.
I won the roll off for deployment and chose the side with
the forest in the deployment zone (yes a gamble – but it allowed me to lock
down that forest from moving by placing a cannon in
it).
With my Huntsmen I nailed down
the other forest by Scouting them within the feature. (No use for the Tree
Singing until Akash dealt with them
).
TURN 1
Akash won the first turn, and of course, elected to go first. Akash’s magic phase was thankfully ineffective as I
scrolled Master of Wood and he failed to cast his other spells. The Witch
Hunters got shot up pretty badly by Archers and I lost
2 IC Knights to archer fire as well. The Eagles and Glade Riders moved up to
threaten the Helblaster and Great Cannon on my right
and the duo Treemen and Dryads advanced quickly on my
right.
I countered by tentatively sending the IC Knights and
Count’s troops towards the Treemen and Dryads and
sent the Pistoliers (who had deployed behind a wood)
off to the far flank to hopefully threaten his level 2 mage on that flank /
make it into his backfield.
Shooting started off well with a
Great Cannon nailing a Treeman for 4 wounds. The
second cannonball got stuck in the mud in front of an
Eagle and the Helblaster shot the Glade Riders off
the board.
TURN 2
Turn 2 saw a duo Great Eagle charge on the remaining Witch
Hunters (who were screening my war machines) and the Dryads and Treemen maneuvering to catch my
IC Knights and Count’s Troops in a trap. Akash’s
magic was once again primarily ineffective and I burned another scroll.
Shooting saw my detachment of Halberdiers lose eight members and the detachment
of Sworsmen lose two. The mage with the Hail of Doom
fired 13 arrows at the Pistoliers but only managed to
kill one 
! The Witch Hunters somehow held up vs. the
Eagles and this meant I would get one more round of shooting with my war
machines….
Unfortunately the heroics of the Witch Hunters were for naught 
as
in my half of the turn, my cannon on my left flank ran from Terror from a
nearby Treeman, the Helblaster
only managed one wound on the Archmage’s Eagle (long
range) and my second cannon misfired and could not fire that turn. Ugh!
My movement phase wasn’t much better as I went for a gutsy charge on the
Dryad’s with my Inner Circle Knights to try to break through the Dryads and out
of the duo incoming Treemen trap, but Akash fled and just managed to escape (by ½”) leaving me
with a failed charge. The Pistoliers were the lone
bright spot as they luckily shot the Mage (who had just had the rotten luck
with the Hail of Doom) and killed him.
TURN 3
The inevitable duo Treemen
charge on the IC Knights was then declared but Lady Luck was kind as I chose to
flee and they fled 12” and out of range of the Treemen.
A unit of Dryads charged the Count’s troops in a mage assassination maneuver (as due to the proximity of terrain and other
units I could not counter charge with detachments and I could not pursue due to
the Griffon standard) The Great Eagles began eating the crews of the Helblaster and the Cannon. The fleeing Dryads also rallied.
Shooting killed 3 more halberdiers several of the Count’s
troops, and the Archmage and his accursed Hunting
Spear skewered 5 Knights Panther ! The Dryads manage to assassinate one Battle Wizard and then
inevitably broke and ran.
In my half, the Count’s Troops and Swordsmen detachment
pass their Terror check and charge into the Treeman
(with one wound remaining) and the Elector Count dispatches the monster. The
Inner Circle Knights rally.
TURN 4
With the looming prospect of charging the Inner Circle
Knights or being charged by them himself in a half a turn or two, the remaining
Treeman charges into the Inner Circle Knights. He
goes for the tree whack on the Captain (who is the only model in the unit that doesn’t need sixes to wound him) and misses! The Captain
(shocked that he is still alive) then proceeds to whiff with all three attacks
and misses him right back! The IC champion comes to the rescue though and
actually manages to wound the Treeman! The Treeman fails his break test and the IC Knights pursue 14”
bringing them right back into the battle.
Elsewhere the Dryads who broke in the prior turn do not
rally and flee towards their table edge. Archmage
continues skewering Knights Panther, killing two more and the Archers continue
to kill Swordsmen with their bows.
In my half, the IC Knights declare a charge on the Dryads
who are too close to flee this time. The Count’s troops march as fast as
possible towards the WE deployment zone and the Pistoliers
complete their end around and are set-up for a charge into the archers on Turn
5. In combat the Dryads go for “sixes needed to hit” and no wounds are caused
on either side…IC Knights win the battle of static combat resolution by three
(std, outnumbering, rank) and they break…ICs run them down moving 12” and are
set-up for a charge into the Archers on Turn 5. [Over the course of Turn 4 my
Knights moved from my deployment zone into Akash’s covering 30” of ground. Quite Impressive ]
TURN 5
Dryads rally. Archmage skewers
the remaining three Knights Panther! Archers concentrate fire on Count’s troops
and kill ten or so, but the EC keeps them moving forward (panic test passed).
Pistoliers move up and take down one Dryad with pistol fire. EC and
Count’s troops decide to play in theme, brave the archer fire, and move as fast
as possible towards the archer line. IC Knights charge and destroy a unit of
archers.
TURN 6
While
looking favorable for the Empire, the game is still
in doubt. The Archmage hits yet
again with the Hunting spear and takes out 5 of the Count’s troops. The
remaining 4 archer units pile on and the entire unit
(including the EC and Battle Wizard) is reduced to seven models! The EC keeps
them moving forward though (panic test passed).
As the game is still in doubt the
EC and his troops declare a charge against a unit of archers (and the IC
Knights charge another unit) and must brave the stand and shoot. The stand and
shoot picks off three more members of the unit and a panic test ensues. The
sweat starts pouring down as we both realize that the fate of the game hangs in
the balance…..the dice are rolled….a six….and a one! They pass!!! The EC and the remaining members looking for vengeance
cut down most of the archers, they break and force a panic test on a nearby
archer unit which fails and they run as well sealing
the deal.
RESULT
A
hard earned victory for the Empire!
The amount of models I lost to Wood Elf
shooting was somewhat horrific (25/27 Count’s troops, 11/12 Halberdiers, 5/5
Huntsmen, 10/10 Knights Panther, 5/9 Witch Hunters) and the Archmage
accounted for over 300 points with the Hunting spear alone!, but this was
somewhat balanced out as the spells Akash generated
were of limited use and his casting rolls were sub-par.
The Inner Circle Knights proved to be the stars of the
match as they took out a Treeman, a unit of Dryads,
and two units of Archers. The
Semi-Finals – Jim – Ogre Kingdoms
Jim fields a balanced Ogre Kingdoms army that relies
primarily on the brute strength of the Ogres as the path to victory. As I had
two Great Cannons in my army I felt that this would be
a fairly favorable match-up for me.
Jim’s army
-Tyrant, Sword Gnoblar, Heavy
Armour, Thundermace, Great Skull
-Hunter, 2 Cats, Longstrider ,
Greedy Fist
-Butcher, Bangstick, Dispel
Scroll
-Butcher, Gnoblar Thiefstone, Bloodcleaver
-5 Ogre Bulls, Full Command, Look Out Gnoblar
-5 Ironguts, Full Command, Runemaw Banner (redirects spells)
-20 Gnoblar Fighters
-8 Gnoblar Trappers
-3 Yhetees
-2 Leadbelchers (one as champ)
-2 Maneaters (one with Brace of
Handguns, one with Great Weapon)
- Gorger
This game was almost over before it started as Jim talked
himself into a bad deployment. Jim was
extremely concerned with my Great Cannons killing 2
Ogres with each shot and changed the way he normally deployed the army and his
characters as a result. Jim’s focus on not getting two Ogres nailed with each
Great Cannon shot meant that he deployed his Butchers outside of units!!!
Guess who got the first turn?
Guess what the Great Cannons shot at?
Guess what was removed from the
table prior to Jim taking his first turn?
OUCH! Jim learned that lesson the hard way. With almost
guaranteed second sign re-rolls each turn for me and no enhancing magic from
the Butchers it was now going to be tough go for Jim.
He took the lesson like a man though and
kept his head in the game and soon pinned my Inner Circle Knights into a
position where they would have to charge the Tyrant’s unit (with the Bulls) or
be run off the board. If I fled from his charge it would have set him up for
enfilade shot from my second Great Cannon, but I would lose the IC Knights. So I decided to play it in theme and let Lady Luck sort it
out. The IC Knights charged the front of the Tyrant’s unit while the remnants
of the Witch Hunters charged the rear. Unfortunately, the detachment of 12
Swordsmen (which would have given me another rank and a flank bonus) – failed
their fear check and did not pile in to help.
The IC Captain engaged the Tyrant in a challenge and
somehow managed 2 wounds on the monster. The Tyrant
bellowed his war cry and smashed the Captain into pulp killing him and adding
+3 overkill!!. Fortunately
the rest of the IC Knights and the Witch Hunters were able to take out two full
Bulls and it swung the battle slightly in my favor.
Lady Luck was not happy with Jim this battle though and the unit broke and fled
exactly 2” and was run down by the IC Knights.
With all of his characters dead (The Pistoliers
broke and ran down the Hunter the turn prior) Jim conceded.
Stars of the match were the Great Cannons.
Championship Game – Donnie – Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh
So what do you know? I found myself in the Championship
game.
Donnie had pretty much wiped out the Lizardmen
army he had faced in the Semi-Finals in two turns, so I was going to need Lady
Luck to help me out with the Terror and Fear tests in a big way or it was going
to be a quick exit for me as well.
Donnie’s List
-Daemon Prince, Level 3 Wizard, Diabolic Splendor, Blade of the Ether, Soul Hunger
-Exalted Daemon, Level 2 Wizard, Blade of the Ether
-12 Daemonettes, Full Command
-12 Daemonettes, Full Command
-12 Daemonettes, Full Command
-3 Pleasureseekers
-3 Pleasureseekers
-Chariot of Slaanesh
-Chariot of Slaanesh
With all that 20” charging goodness and the characters
equipped with Knight killing goodness and both sporting the Enrapturing Spasms
spell!, I was going to need the first turn in a very big way.
Fortunately, Lady Luck smiled on me again and I did win
the roll off.
TURN 1
I advanced most of my battle line forward into
advantageous positions and didn’t have to worry about getting charged by the
flying daemons on turn 1 (as Donnie had wisely hid them behind a forest on turn
1).
One Great Cannon managed to nail a Chariot of Slaanesh and it shattered. The other cannon failed to wound
a Pleasureseeker (rolled a 1).
Donnie countered by doing what Slaanesh
daemons do best – surge forward. He also set up a unit of Pleasureseekers
as bait for my Inner Circle Knights with his Daemon Prince able to hit me in
the flank in his next turn if I took the bait and got
held up.
TURN 2
As it was likely that the Daemon Prince (and perhaps the Exhalted as well) would charge my IC Knights in Donnie’s
turn I went ahead and charged the IC Knights into Donnie’s trap.
My infantry and Knights Panther moved forward to engage
two units of Daemonettes supported by the remaining
chariot and a unit of Pleasureseekers.
Magic went well as I managed an IR with second sign and
got 2 re-rolls.
The cannons both overshot their targets (rolled two 10’s
on the extra range!)
The Helblaster still had a
glorious chance to kill the Exalted Daemon as Donnie had moved him a bit too
close, but I rolled a 2,2,2 for the Helblaster hits at close range!
Darn those artillery dice! 
The IC Knights slammed hard into the Pleasurseekers
causing 6 wounds … but Donnie made 4 of the 6 5+ ward saves!!
I really needed the warhorses to come through with one more wound (to remove
one full Pleasureseeker) or this was going to get
ugly fast….fortunately the Warhorses were up to the task and came through. I
then made all my armour saves on the return attacks, winning the combat by 6!! - Donnie rolled high and the seekers vanished! It was now
all up to the overrun move – would I get out of the charge arc of the Daemon Prince? I rolled a 6, 1, 1…. Oh
no…..I am DOOMED…but wait what’s that red dice in the
middle of the table? A re-roll? - And the re-roll was
a 4” which was just enough to save the ICs by taking
them out of the charge arc of the Prince. That was a close one!
Donnie was determined to get to grips with something that
turn charged the Prince at the Witch Hunters who fled and got away. The Exalted
charged a cannon whose crew fled and were run down.
The second chariot slammed into the detachment of Swordsmen, broke them and ran
them down …. breaking into my deployment zone. The Pleasureseekers charged into the Swordsmen on a mage
assassination run…(and the Halberdiers
counter-charged) but the lucky chap only took one wound! The Pleasureseekers rolled well on Instability and stuck
around.
TURN 3
The fleeing Witch Hunters made the Helblaster
crew panic and run! Arrrgghhhh!!
The detachment of Halberdiers passed their Terror test. The Knights Panther
charged into a unit of Daemonettes … but have some
rubber lance syndrome and only kill two. Daemonettes
pass their Instability test. IC Knights turn to face an incoming unit of Daemonettes. Pleasureseekers
finish off the wizard and several swordsmen but vanish regardless.
Daemonettes charge into IC Knights. Prince and Daemonettes
charge into Halberdier detachment … who must try to hold or it will set-up a
redirect by the Prince into my Knights Panther…fortunately they pass Chariot wheels around to set up charge into Knights Panther or
Count’s troops in the flank / rear the next turn. Exalted flies over to support
Daemonettes engaged with IC Knights.
Magic sees IR Enrapturing Spasms hit the Knights Panther!
The lucky blokes win due to Full Plate and CR anyways though!
The Halberdiers are butchered down to three remaining
halberdiers who autobreaks and flee..due to the poor positioning this will take the
Prince into he restrains pursuit and the Daemonettes
stop their pursuit at his positon (they could not
wheel around him).
The IC Knights handily defeat the Daemonettes…but
they only lose a couple to Instability.
TURN 4
Alright … here it is. The Terror check on the EC + Count’s
unit!…….(Note that in my last tournament I failed a Terror check in two games
and got my general's unit run down as a result)……but Lady Luck was kind and the
EC kept the ladz in line. 
They charge into a unit of Daemonettes.
The remaining cannon finally draws
a bead on the other chariot and smashes it to bitz
(just in the nick of time!).
The ladz win all three combats
with the Daemonettes but the daemons hang tough in
all but one (where they vanish against the IC Knights).
Donnie finally has the IC Knights marked for death though
and the Exalted charges them and hits them in the flank (I was too close to
flee).
With time ticking away, the Daemon Prince charges into the
Count’s Troops (as Donnie still had a Daemonette champ alive he could avoid the Speculum).
The magic phase was going to be critical. I had three dice
and a scroll left.
The Exalted winds up and throws three dice at Spasms at
the IC Knights – a 16!!! Oh my…….Any
hope I had of stopping both attempts is now out the window! I have the painful
choice of having to stop the Spasms on the IC Knights with a scroll and taking
my chances vs 4 power dice vs. 3 dispel dice on the
EC’s unit – or letting the IC Knights die. It hurt hard, but losing the EC
would definitely lose me the game so I decide that I must sacrifice the brave
IC ladz.
The Prince winds up and throws 4
dice at the EC’s unit. Wait. What’s this? A miscast!
Donnie was obviously not amused with that but it got worse
in a hurry as he rolled the result where the Prince does not fight in close
combat
The IC Knights got mashed by the Exalted Daemon but
escape.
Without the assistance of the Prince in the combat, I
defeat the Daemonettes by five or six and the Prince
vanishes!!!….the Daemonettes
hang tough on a 2 but with the loss of the Prince the
match is all but over now.
END GAME
The Exalted ends up finishing off the IC Knights but the
remainder of Donnie’s army was destroyed by the end of
the battle.
Victory for the Empire!
Closing Thoughts
Well it certainly was a good day for the Empire ladz!
First
a big hats off to all my opponents for three enjoyable games. Even with the
championship on the line, everyone was an excellent sport and we resolved any
rules questions very quickly and got on with the games.
Lady Luck threw me some definite
curveballs to me at times with the War Machines (After the first round of game
1 the Helblaster had basically no impact) but my dice
in close combat were as good as one could hope for and while shooting played a
part in my victories (especially game 2) I won all three games in the close
combat phase….which was what the list was constructed to do.
The area where my dice excelled in for the day was in
psychology test where my Elector Count and his Swordsmen did not fail a single
critical psychology test on the day despite having to take 3 Panic Tests, 5
Fear Tests, and two Terror tests on the day in situations which could have changed
the course of a game….. I have to give Lady Luck a big kiss for her help in
that department for sure!
The whole experience was a bit surreal in that I didn’t have any of the usual pre-tournament jitters that I
usually experience as I was simply happy to be participating. I made less
tactical mistakes and I listened to my instincts instead of
overruling them at this tournament and my instincts proved to be correct
each time. 
I think there is definitely a lesson to be
learned there (at least for me).
*****
Well that's it. I hope you
enjoyed the report.
Best Regards,
BF
_________________
Rule #1: Never field an army you would hate to play
against yourself.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Great Lakes Warhammer League
http://www.oocities.org/mi_whplayers/glwl.html