Classichammer Day July recap.

[Just Tony]

Not much to recap about the games themselves as I had to work and came strolling in at the end of festivities. The key thing here was that our very own Alarantalara showed up as his family vacation was timed around this play date. The match ups wound up being him facing his Dark Elves against John's Orcs and Goblins while Ashley took our Skaven against Carl's Orcs and Goblins. I had my Chaos Warriors in my trunk but wound up unable to play.

July Classichammer 1.jpg (323.9 KiB) Viewed 9958 times

July Classichammer 2.jpg (162.86 KiB) Viewed 9958 times

July Classichammer 3.jpg (152.28 KiB) Viewed 9958 times

[TinyLegions]

Good to see some dice rolling and new blood there.

[Just Tony]

Well, when he gets around to posting again after the vacay I'll assume he'll get the exact details out.

[Alarantalara]

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures myself, so there isn't anything I can add that way.

It was great to play against an army that I never encountered before as Dark Elves (I think I played against Orcs and Goblins in the distant past as Daemons or Lizardmen, but I don't remember the games.).

I don't want to comment too much on the game since a combination of good luck on my part, terrible luck on my opponent's, and a sequence of nasty flank charges led to a blowout where the difference in victory points was approximately equal to the size of the game (we didn't bother to count it out). You know things are not going your way when a unit of 10 boar boyz with full command (218 points) fails to charge a unit of 10 corsairs with no upgrades (100 points) due to squabbling, gets charged by the same, takes 3 casualties from 10 attacks despite a 2/27 chance of an attack inflicting a wound, inflicts none back, flees, then gets run down despite rolling 3 dice to flee against 2 to pursue.

The orcs' big chance came when my high sorceress and her accompanying 8 spearmen (the other 8 died to fanatics) ended a pursuit move with their flank exposed to a unit of 20 night goblins. Of course the goblins decided to squabble instead, so the sorceress moved out of the way and dropped a Black Horror on them, killing 13 and sending the rest fleeing, never to return.

After horrors like that (and more), I was truly happy that I enjoyed both the game and talking with my opponent and that my opponent claimed the same. It would have been so easy for it to turn into something unpleasant.

[Alarantalara]

Oh, I also have a suggestion and a hint for my opponent. Since you’re interested in historical battles, consider the Battle of Leuctra when deploying. The echelon formation was a consequence of deployment in much the same way that animosity can cause your own units to fail to advance.

[Just Tony]

I want to say that John is a member on the boards here, so he can throw in his $0.02 US. I also know that he had a rather severe winning streak over the past year which only just now has seemed to reverse itself.


Don't worry. Once I can actually game again, I'm sure he can squeeze a win in as I'm pretty abysmal with my rolling.

[MorglumNeckSnapper]

I ascribe my recent losing streak to facing magic heavy opponents. I'm a simple minded orc player and bring fighting characters and large mobs. What's a poor ol Greenskin to do when faced with 4 magic users of various levels ?

[Alarantalara]

I ascribe my recent losing streak to facing magic heavy opponents. I'm a simple minded orc player and bring fighting characters and large mobs. What's a poor ol Greenskin to do when faced with 4 magic users of various levels ?

That was only 3 magic users. I try not to go too ridiculous.

High sorceress - level 4: 255
Sorceress - level 2, darkstar cloak: 150
Sorceress - level 2, dark steed: 142

5 Dark riders - musician: 97
5 Dark riders - musician: 97
5 Dark riders - musician, repeater crossbows: 127
10 Warriors - repeater crossbows: 110
10 Corsairs: 100
19 Warriors - full command: 158
16 Warriors - full command, shields: 153

5 Cold one knights - standard bearer, dread knight: 181

2 Bolt throwers: 200
War hydra: 220

Total: 1990 points (apparently my math was a bit off at the time—I'm glad it was low instead of high)
11 Casting dice, 6 dispel dice

[MorglumNeckSnapper]

No offense, it's just different styles of play. I play Orcs because I like combat. Others prefer magic.

[Alarantalara]

No offense taken. It's one of the few things I don't like about Dark Elves. Their raw cost and +1 bonus to casting really encourage not taking the minimum since you end up paying extra for no advantage in magical defense over any other army and once you start trying for some offense, it costs so much that you might as well just take a bit more to make sure all the points paid out actually do something with the result that I pretty much always end up with 9 or more casting dice (except sometimes none at all if playing Dwarfs).

I'd love a Dwarf runesmith, Wood Elf branchwraith, Empire warrior priest, High Elf loremaster honour, Savage orc shaman, the Sacred spawning of Tepok, or Necrarch thrall equivalent, as a way to provide some magic defense without having to invest in characters that can't fight. At best, without sorceresses, I have access to a single extra dispel die via a magic talisman and another talisman that can increase miscast frequencies if close to the caster.

[Kakapo42]

What's a poor ol Greenskin to do when faced with 4 magic users of various levels ?

Bash 'em inna head with an axe of course! What kind of a stoopid question is that. It's panzee 'umie stunty talk is what it is.

A big club works good too. So does dropping big rocks on 'em. Or spittin 'em on a big stick.

Point is, the magic user cannot use their magic if you disable their head.

[Just Tony]

I ascribe my recent losing streak to facing magic heavy opponents. I'm a simple minded orc player and bring fighting characters and large mobs. What's a poor ol Greenskin to do when faced with 4 magic users of various levels ?

I try to operate by the rule of never having more magic using characters than non Magic using characters. If I run a sier council, it's because it was plotted out, before that game even happened, between me and the opponent.