Classichammer

Originally posted 8-20-2017

So, as promised, I have a fully functional battle report to post. This one is probably the longest, and the shortest.

The battle was set for 2,500 pts. and was a match between Dogs of War and Beasts of Chaos. We decided on Pitched Battle simply because it was a drill weekend and my nephews kind of squandered our gaming time. Anyway, here were the army lists:

DOGS OF WAR:

Lord-General with heavy armor, shield, Sword of Power, and barded steed
Hero-Paymaster with heavy armor, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Striking, and barded steed
Hero+Rare-Truthsayer
Core-10 Knights with musician and standard
Core-20 Pikemen with heavy armor, musician and standard
Core-20 Pikemen with heavy armor, musician and standard
Core-20 Pikemen with heavy armor, musician and standard
Core-10 Crossbowmen
Special-Richter Krueger's Cursed Company
Special-Halflings
Special-Dwarfes with heavy armor, shield, musician and standard
Rare-3 Fenbeasts

BEASTMEN:

Lord-Doombull with Axes of Khorgor, heavy armor, Crown of Horns, and Mark of Tzeentch
Hero-Wargor with Chaos Armor, shield, Scimitar of Skulgar, and Mark of Tzeentch
Hero-Wargor Battle Standard with heavy armor, Beast Banner, and Mark of Tzeentch
Hero-Bray-shaman Level 2 with Staff of Darkoth (knows Wild Call: 9+ to cast allowing Warhounds, Beast Herds, or Bestigors to charge if they are able to) and Dispel Scroll
Core-Beast Herd with 12 Gors with 2 hand weapons, 8 Ungors with spears and shields, and full command
Core-18 Bestigors with full command, Flesh Banner, and Mark of Tzeentch
Core-7 Minotaurs with Mark of Tzeentch
Core-8 Minotaurs with Mark of Tzeentch
Core-8 Minotaurs with Mark of Tzeentch
Core-3 Minotaurs with Mark of Tzeentch

The deployment looked as such, pardon my shirtless brother.
The Dwarves held right flank of the DOW line with the Fenbeast farthest out, with the Knights and Halflings filling the gap between the Dwarves and the center line unit, the Cursed Company. Three pikemen units continue out with a Fenbeast on either side of the first pike unit. Crossbows held the left flank.

The left flank of the Beastmen line was held by the 3 man Minotaur regiment, with the 8 man Minotaur unit next in. The center units were the Bestigor unit carrying the Wargor and BSB, with the Doombull in the 7 man regiment just to the right. Lastly the right flank had the Beast Herd carrying the Bray-shaman with the other 8 man Minotaur unit on the right flank.

We rolled for spells, with the Truthsayer rolling/choosing 1, 4, and 5. The Doombull rolled/chose Red Fire (5+ cast, 30" range, D6 hits at D6 Strength) and Violet Fire (12+ cast, LD test for character within 24", removed as casualty if failed), the Wargor got Red Fire (5+ cast, 30" range, D6 hits at D6 Strength) and Orange Fire (6+ cast, reroll to hit, to wound, and all saves), the BSB got Red Fire (5+ cast, 30" range, D6 hits at D6 Strength) and Green Fire (9+ cast, enemy unit within 24" fights itself, characters exempt, no effect on Immune to Psychology units), and the Bray-Shaman chose Lore of Shadows and received Steed of Shadows (4+ cast, character within 12" can make fly move, may charge) and Pit of Shades (11+ cast, an unengaged unit gets 3" template anywhere on board, 4+ partials, St 3 hit, 1-3 unit counts as moving as it exits the Pit).

Dogs of War get first turn.

DOW Turn 1:

Every unit but the shooters move forward, the Knights at a slower pace to keep up with the main battle line. Difficult terrain slowed the Fenbeast and two Pike units trying to cross the hedge, which we decided would be difficult terrain.
Wings of Fate was dispelled in the Magic phase, as was another spell which I have to look up when I get home

BEASTMEN Turn 1

My usual tactic is to lurch forward at full speed, which usually catches people unaware and gives them less room to maneuver or set up flank charges. Seemed like a good time to do the same thing here.
My magic phase was much more productive as I had a pool of 7 community dice as well as 2 per wizard. Not the worst Tzeentch PD spam, but I did feel a little bad. (Or I would have, if they had thought to have given me ballistic troops in this Army Book.) The Doombull blasted 3 wounds off of the Fenbeast directly in front of his unit. It was here I used Steed of Shadows to put my Mage beside the Bestigors/Minotaurs on the left flank.
I tried to fish out the few Dispel dice he had by throwing out some more spells. Green Fire from the BSB into the Knights netted 2 casualties, and Red Fire from the Wargor saw off 4 Halflings. No attempts to dispel. Surely a Violet Fire on Richter Krueger would suck out the Dispel dice? Probably, if I hadn't miscast. Fortunately I roll a 7 and simply fail the spell, which unfortunately leaves him Dispel dice enough to quash Wild Call.

DOW Turn 2:

Emboldened by the turn of events, a massive charge is called. On the DOW right side, the lone Fenbeast charges into the 3 man Minotaur unit, while the Dwarves trying to get a slice of the action fail their charge. The Knights, however, can't marshal the courage to charge the 8 man Minotaur unit. The Cursed Company manage a combined charge with the other two Fenbeasts into the Doombull's unit in the center of the table. The pikes with the Truthsayer inside charge into the 8 man Minotaur unit on the left side of the board. The last two Pike units are stymied by the difficult terrain.
In the Magic phase Boon of Courage passes, making the Truthsayer's unit unbreakable til next turn. An attempt at healing the wounded Fen Beast fails.

In the shooting phase, a rain of crossbow bolts bounce harmlessly in front of the Beast herd. So much for Tilean marksmanship. The pride of the Moot, the Halflings, manage to fell one Bestigor.

In the close combat phase the Fenbeast fighting the 3 Minotaurs fails to wound but is wounded twice himself, and being Unbreakable keeps the Minos occupied.
In the center, the Doombull roars a mighty challenge to the undead mercenary Richter Krueger, who accepts with the silent empty gaze of the dead. The Fen Beasts in combat with the Doombull's unit do two wounds, with one sent on themselves. The skeletons and Minotaurs each take two wounds off the other unit. Krueger manages to wound the Doombull once, and is able to turn away every attack except 1. The Minotaurs break from the combat, rolling a 10 to fall back. The Cursed Company pursues 8, while the surviving Fenbeast from that encounter pursues 5.

The Truthsayer's regiment does 2 wounds on the Minotaurs, with 5 done in return by the Minotaurs. Resolution does the trick, and the Minotaurs fall back 11, with the Pikes pursuing 8. No panic is caused at the end of that round.
BEASTMEN Turn 2:

Once again, no panic is caused by the fleeing units. Charges are declared by the 8 man Minotaurs into the 8 man Knights, and the Beast Herd into the flank of the Truthsayer's unit. Both fleeing Minotaur units rally. The Knights voluntarily flee from the 8 man Minotaur charge, and the unit slams into the Dwarves. The Pikes hold, and the Bestigors reform, facing towards the Cursed Company. The Bray-Shaman moves up onto the small hill next to the Bestigors.
3 Skeletons die to Red Fire from the Doombull, and then Richter is sucked into the warp by Violet Fire. The Wargor casts Orange fire on himself. The Bray Shaman then flings the Bestigors into the flank of the Cursed Company with Wild Call, then turns and casts the Steed of Shadows, which sends him flying into the rear of the fleeing Knight unit, chasing them off the board. The entire DOW army then has to test for panic, with one Pike unit fleeing.
In the combat phase the Fenbeast and 3 man Minotaur unit fail to wound each other and stand firm. The 8 man unit, however, kills 1 Dwarf with no wounds back. Combat resolution, however, forces a break check for the Minotaurs, who promptly fail and are run down by the Dwarfs, who charge into the 3 man Minotaur unit. The Bestigors do 8 wounds on the Cursed Company, with no models able to attack back. 14 then crumble to combat resolution. The Beast Herd does 2 wounds on the Pikemen with none in return, and the Foerender dies fighting the Truthsayer. The pressure of the flank attack is suitable enough to force the break check on the Pikemen, who fail and are run down. All remaining Fenbeasts crumble to mush as the Truthsayer dies.
DOW Turn 3

Fleeing Pikes rally as the Halflings do an about face to bring their arrows to bear on the lone Bray-Shaman. The Crossbowman do not move, while the other Pikemen take a better position.
Shooting sees a wound on the Bray-Shaman, and 1 Ungor bolted to the ground.
In close combat the Dwarves and Minotaurs fail to wound each other, and the Dwarves pursue yet another Minotaur unit into the ground. The Cursed Company is killed off, and the Bestigors reform to face the Dwarven battering ram.

BEASTMEN Turn 3

The Beast Herd charges into the front of the Pike unit that is in front of it. Every other unit moves into position.
The Doombull brings down 2 Halflings with Red Fire, and Wild Call flings the Bestigors into the flank of the Dwarves. The Pit of Shades manages to kill 2 Pikemen in the unengaged unit, and the Wargor wraps up with Orange Fire on himself. (Critical note: I flung the Bestigors too soon as I wanted to keep Ashley from dispelling the spell. I wound up throwing out Power dice, a practice I dread.)
The Dwarves take 4 wounds from the Bestigors, and are unable to respond. Failing their break check, they flee 4, with the Bestigors pursuing 5.

4 Gors die to Pike attacks, and 2 Pikemen are pulled down. The Beast Herd rolls double 1's, ensuring combat next turn.
Or so I thought. It was here that my brother decided to call it. More accurately, after seeing ineffective shooting, doing the math on how unlikely he was to get a win, and realizing it was past 1 AM and I still had to get back to drill.



All in all I learned that magic heavy is still brutal, and I'm starting to think that rank bonus should be 5 like in 7th. Also, the difficult terrain rules are horrid.

Feel free to chime in.

pardon my shirtless brother.

Absolutely not.

Anyway, you both seem to have nailed the operation of the Tzeentch Beast Spectacular, i.e. movement spells are what you have to hold on for, and the rest of the cascade of nonsense is just Dispel bait. I feel you with regards to Power Dice economy too: every time I have one left over and I don't have the Black Periapt to stash it in, I feel like I've messed up somewhere.

Difficult terrain is indeed a harsh mistress, and it's one of the reasons I think very very carefully about where, and at what angle, I'm going to place any linear obstacles like walls or hedges when I set up my tables. They have a surprising impact on every phase of the game except magic, really, and they shouldn't be overlooked. I'm a big fan of the 45 degree angle when I place mine - if they run diagonally along the battlefield there's a real choice in hunkering up behind them to secure a flank or defend from the front, but also show a flank - or do you protect against shooting and flanks but accept that your unit will be facing off course from the direct trudge forward? Even then, for the majority of "blocky" armies, terrain is something you move around rather than over or through.

As I get the Batreps from the original site moved over you'll see an attempt on my part, once I had the models, to try and find multiple ways to run the Beastmen. Not always successfully. I'm biding my time until I can find about 20 more of those Talisman/Warhammer Quest Minotaurs so I can give the 100% Minotaur army a run. Though I'm not paying the ridiculous prices on the current BIN auctions for those models.