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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Battle Report: Beer Gut Tribe vs. Skaven 9/30/08.

Bare bones post. Just got home from my game tonight which was postponed from last week. It was a 1250 point battle against Skaven with one of our "new" regular players DANNY (you may remember him from my last Battle Report as the Chaos Mortals player). DANNY played a Skaven list crafted by our regular skitter skitter general, and did not create his own list. This may have contributed to my downfall, but overall the game went south from the beginning for the Beer Gut Tribe.

My list was as follows:
Bruiser @ 171
- Heavy Armor
- Brace of Handguns
- Wyrdstone Necklace
- Luck Gnoblar

Butcher @ 150
- Skullmantle

Butcher @ 155
- Bangstick

Bulls x 3 @ 127
- AHW
- Bellower

Bulls x 3 @ 127
- AHW
- Bellower

Gnoblar Fighters x 20 @ 40

Gnoblar Trappers x 10 @ 60

Leadbelchers x 2 @120
- Bellower

Leadbelchers x 2 @120
- Bellower

Maneaters x 2 @ 180
- Heavy Armor
- Brace of Handguns

Total: 1,250 Points (of 1,250)

The plan was to throw my Trappers in front of his Warp Lightning Cannon while sticking the Fighters in front to get the zap coming from his Warplock Engineer's Warp Lightning and Storm Demon. Meanwhile the Leadbelchers would negate the flanks on both sides, attempting to get into a position to get some good shots on the more expensive blocks of troops (Plague Monks, Rat Ogres, etc). The Bruiser and Bangstick Butcher were to head in with the Maneaters while the Bulls staggered up the sides to get some flank charges.

That was the plan. Lucky for DANNY things rarely go to plan when relying too heavily on Gnoblars. The great maw was not pleased with the BGT, and almost all of the inital rolls in the game were quite bad. As I don't feel like reliving the terrible beating I received at the hands of the sneaky ratmen, here is a quick recap of the "highlights" from the game.

Turn 1
  • Both the Gnoblar Trappers and Fighters bickered and sat motionless, ruining phase one of the game plan.
  • Butchers manage to buff one unit with Toothcracker while all other spells (including the Bangstick) fail or are dispelled.
  • Bruiser and Maneater make 6 shots at a screening unit of Night Runners, hit 5 and kill 4 but the unit passes its Leadership 6 check and stays in the way.
  • Skaven Warplock Engineer unleashes Warp Lightning hell on a unit of Bulls with the Skullmantle Butcher (the one that should have been screened by the Gnoblars), dealing a total of 7 wounds and killing two Bulls while leaving 1 wound on the Butcher (kuckily the unit passes it's panic check and sticks around).
Turn 2
  • Trappers don't bicker but the Fighters continue to fight over shiny objects, again failing to screen any of the Ogre units.
  • Trappers throw 20 sharp objects at the nearby Night Runners blocking an Ogre charge, hitting only 4 times and wounding none.
  • Butchers continue their failure spree but manage to get a Trollguts off on the large unit of Characters and Maneaters (all other spells are dispelled or fail outright).
  • Leadbelchers decide it is their time to shine, first unit rolls a total of 8 shots (gets 5 hits, 3 wounds) while the second unit promptly Misfires before making its 8 shots (6 hits, 4 wounds).
  • Meanwhile the Bruiser and Maneaters shoot ineffectively at the nearby Plague Monks and miss every single shot.
  • A unit of Slaves charges and runs down the trappers (meeting their flee distance exactly, even through difficult terrain).
  • Night Runners charge the Characters and Maneaters, unleashing their assassin who is promptly crushed in a challenge by the Butcher.
  • Night Runners lose combat and are mowed down in the pursuit, but the Ogres are too close to the Plague Monks to get a Bull Charge on the next turn.
  • Meanwhile the badly damaged Bull and Butcher stave off the Warp Lightning onslaught while chasing off another large unit of Slaves.
  • Leadbelchers manage to stave off additional charges with their Fear and stand still to reload.
Turn 3
  • Characters and Maneaters charge the Plague Monks, challenging with the Butcher.
  • Butcher deals 2 wounds which are saved by a 4+ Ward Save.
  • Plague Monk champion (how did the champion have a Ward Save?!) deals no wounds and the challenge is null.
  • Meanwhile the Bruiser and two Maneaters deal and addtional 4 casualties and only take 1 wound back (on a Maneater).
  • Characters and Maneaters lose the combat by 1 point (a banner), and roll a 10 for Leadership.
  • They flee 6" and are promptly mowed down.
  • At this point I quit.
And that was that. I took some pictures but I don't feel the need to post them here after a loss like that. The bottom line, I rolled really poorly. This seems to be a theme for me. Terrain placement went my way, I got to go first, and I still blew it. Here are a few things I would have done differently if I had to play it again.
  • There were two forests on the board for the Trappers to deploy in. One was near 4 units of enemies (Clan Rats, Slaves, Giant Rats, and Night Runners), while the other was only near a unit of Rat Ogres (and near impassable terrain in the form of some rocks). I should have deployed near the Rat Ogres, waited for them to head into the woods (their path forward and to their sides were blocked). The unit would have stopped outside of the Trappers who would have been able to move out around the Rat Ogres, throwing Sharp Stuff at their flank.
  • I should have placed the Leadbelchers closer to last. I placed them first in an attempt to keep units off my flanks, but DANNY responded by putting trash units in their range or simply outnumbering them. They had no worthwhile targets and had to shoot at things like Clan Rats and Slaves.
  • Taken a banner. Well maybe. I would probably have been better off with a Fistful of Laurels though. I really hate losing the entire game because of one bad Leadership role.
Overall it was a crappy end to a fairly crappy day, and another loss on my record (which is already pretty bad). I don't think the list that was played against me was especially kind, but I also don't think the list I put forward was really ideal in this situation. I ran two Butchers in the hopes of dispelling the Warp Lightning and still ate one huge blast of it, while trying to dispel it with all of my dispel dice (4 dice!!). I am either really unlucky or the universe is plotting against me.

Back to the drawing board ...

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