Win some you lose some.

Well the Beer Gut Tribe performed about as well as I had expected them to during yesterday's tournament. I won my first two games and lost my last. Going into the final round I was in first place by two points but I probably finished somewhere south of 5th place. Not a bad showing but not the three wins I needed to make it into next month's championship tournament.

I meant to take a bunch of pictures during the event but I only grabbed a couple and they didn't turn out very well. The picture above is the only one that was somewhat usable. Oh well. Here is a quick rundown of the games I played and highlights from each.

Game #1 - Jeff's Skaven.

• Jeff is one of the better players in our scene (if not the country) and he brought a pretty ugly Skaven list from the new book.
  
• List consisted of a Grey Seer on foot, two level 2 Plague Priests, BSB, two or three units of Clanrats with Ratling Guns, big block of Plague Monks pushing the Plague Furnace, a unit of Censer Bearers, Hellpit Abomination, Warplightning Cannon, and two or three units of Slaves.
• Neither the Plague Priests nor the Grey Seer got Wither (thank goodness) but the Grey Seer did take the Dreaded 13th Spell.
  
• I got turn 1 and pushed everything forward with a unit of Trappers heading towards the WLC to limit it's shots and charge it on turn 2.
  
• Managed to get buffs up on all the Ogre units and Bangstick a Ratling Gun off the board.
  
• Scraplauncher pulled off it's first amazing moment of the day by scoring a partial hit on a Plague Priest in a unit of Clanrats. Plague Priest then fails his "Look Out Sir" roll and is destroyed by a Killing Blow on the roll of 6.
  
• Hellpit Abomination moves up the left flank towards a unit of Ironguts with a Butcher. Rolls triples, then 6, moving into the flank of the Ironguts with a super-charged S7 fury and crushing them all.
  
• Leadbelchers move behind the Hellpit Abomination and blast a couple of wounds off the beast before charging the rear by themselves (while a unit of Bulls fails it's Fear test and stays put). They are quickly absorbed/eaten but manage to do one more wound to the beast.
  
• Bulls get their courage up and charge the flank of the Hellpit Abomination and manage to do the last 3 remaining wounds to "kill" it. Jeff rolled a 2 and the beast stays dead for good.
  
• Meanwhile on the right side of the board the Maneaters and characters slam into a unit of Clanrats who are crushed but slow down the unit long enough for the baited Plague Monk unit nearby to manage a counter charge on the unit's flank (only touching the BSB Bruiser).
  
• This combat goes on for the rest of the game with the BSB managing to kill all but one of the Plague Monks while the Maneaters and Characters take multiple T tests each turn (probably in the neighborhood of 30 or more).
  
• Grey Seer manages to cast the Dreaded 13th spell on the unit of Bulls which killed the Hellpit Abomination. It goes off with Irresistible Force and the 4 Bulls are turned into 4 Clanrats.
• The Ogres have their revenge on the next turn when the Grey Seer miscasts and blows himself up (rolling a 2 on the miscast table).
  
• Final score is close with a narrow victory going to the Beer Gut Tribe.
  

A close fought game that was a lot of fun. There were moments of "WTF" on both sides of the table and the game could have gone either way at many points. This was my first game against Jeff and I hope to be able to play with him again in the future. In other news - the updated Skaven book is no friend of the Ogre Kingdoms (then again who is!?). My next opponent is a familiar face, Jeff's father Mike.

Game #2 - Mike's Warriors of Chaos.

• Mike and I have played a few times and it is always fun. Well, the two times I had to play his Tecilis list at BoLSCon might not be my favorite moments in WHFB history but they were still fun.
  
• He brought a slightly unusual WoC list with unmarked level 4 Sorc Lord, level 2 Chaos Sorc with the Mark of Nurgle, Exalted BSB, three units of 20 Marauders, two or three units of Marauder Horsemen, a unit of Chaos Knights, two Chariots, and two Hellcannons.
  
• Mike got the first turn and began moving forward with one Hellcannon in the middle of the field and another on the far right flank near his Marauder blocks.
• In his opening volley with the first Hellcannon he misfired and rolled the "all wizards miscast" roll. His casters survive thanks to the Puppet. My first Butcher does 3 wounds to himself (after he was already able to cast Trollguts on his unit due to the Sorc Lord's miscast) while the second Butcher rolls a 1.
  
• That would have been the game but Mike (in a move that proves to be his downfall) modifies the miscast to the "Butcher can no longer cast spells" outcome (later I found out he had the Black Tongue and probably could have killed him at any time).
  
• With Gut Magic out of the picture things are looking grim for the Beer Gut Tribe.
  
• After fleeing from a Chaos Knight charge on the flank, and a double Chariot charge in the center of the board, I set up Mike for the counter charge with my Slavegiant and Maneater units.
  
• Mike flees from all the charges which allows me to redirect my charge into two additional units who also flee.
  
• By the end of my turn 2 half of Mike's army is fleeing on one side of the board while his blocks of troops move up the right side.
  
• Mike's Horsemen and Knights fail to rally and run off the board while the Chariots manage to turn around.
• Sustained Hellcannon shots decimate the Irongut and Maneater units.
  
• In turn 4 I charge my Tyrant out of his unit at the Hellcannon and deal 2 wounds.
  
• Marauders charge the Tyrant's flank on turn 5 but he manages to hold (testing on a 4).
  
• My turn 5 I charge a unit of Bulls into the flank of the Marauders who break while the Tyrant kills the Hellcannon before chasing the Marauders off the board.
  
• Ganes ends as a decisive victory for the Beer Gut Tribe with only one unit of Marauders and the three characters left alive on the table.
  

What started out as a complete loss thanks to the miscast outcome on the Hellcannon misfire chart turned out to be a really fun game with some close calls on both sides. All of this thanks to the kindness of my opponent. Much appreciated Mike! Going into the last game of the day I was in first place with two win and ahead in overall points. It was a tie between opponents between Jordan's Wood Elves and Dylan's Dwarfs. I manage to draw the Wood Elves and I am sure you can guess the outcome of this one ...

Game #3 - Jordan's Wood Elves.

• Jordan is one of the best players in the country and always gives a good game. That said I have yet to enjoy any of my games with him as he always ends up playing lists that seem tailored to destroy Ogres.
• His WE list consisted of two level 1 scroll caddies, a Hail of Doom arrow BSB, Ancient Treeman, three units of Dryads, three units of Archers, Waywatchers, three units of Wild Riders, and some other bits I can't recall. It was mostly a forest spirit army.
  
• This was only my second game against Wood Elves and I still hate them.
  
• Jordan got turn 1 and moved up his Dryads and Fast Cav while shooting the crap out of my Ogres and Slavegiant.
  
• I manage to get one or two Gut Magic buffs up but he quickly removes them in his magic phase.
  
• Tyrant ends up fighting the Treeman and does two wounds in the first round. This combat goes on for two more rounds but the Tyrant fails to do anything while the Treeman gets about a wound on average each time and holds.
• Treeman was equipped with the Annoyance of Netlings and D6 poison attacks.
  
• Treeman finally breaks and flees but the Maneaters and characters fail to catch him and slam into a nearby unit of Dryads.
  
• More Dryads and the Treeman charge back in and kill the Maneaters off but not before the Tyrant manages to land the killing blow on the Treeman.
  
• Meanwhile the Slavegiant and a unit of Leadbelchers kill a unit of Dryads but are charged in the flank by Wild Riders and die (with the Slavegiant falling on the last Leadbelcher and killing him off).
  
• Meanwhile the WE BSB has left the security of the woods and is standing in the center of the board shooting at some remaining Bulls.
  
• Scraplauncher takes the opportunity to land a direct hit on the BSB and kill him outright with a roll of 6 for Killing Blow.
  
• Game ends as a loss for the Beer Gut Tribe with only the Scaplauncher, Tyrant, BSB, and one Butcher remaining.
  

Why is it the Wood Elf army isn't considered a "strong" army? Compared to Ogres they have everything going for them but I can see how things go wrong with a bunch of T3 troops running around. I don't like Dryads. I don't like Trees that kill. Still, it was a fun game all around and I managed to kill about half the Wood Elf army which is good considering I expected to be wiped off the board by turn 3. Thanks for the first fun game Jordan!

So there you have it. Two wins and one loss and three fun games against some of the best players of WHFB I know. Win or lose you can't really beat an outcome like that. While I (probably) haven't made it high enough in the rankings for next month's tournament I still had a lot of fun and sometimes I need that reminder of why I play this game at all. For the fun times.