Monday, 17 December 2012

Post Masters 2012


Hi guys

Sorry I have not been talking to you my adoring fans, but I have been rather busy since the masters.

What with work, kids, wife, and painting things for other people, my life gets rather hectic at times!!

 
So I thought I better give my Orc view of the masters.  As usual it was an excellently run Wellington event, with fantastic terrain supplied by Mr Dunn.  The atmosphere was great, with lots of banter flying about.  I even got into a toilet fight with Mr St Clair!!

So onto my result.  7th.  To be honest I am disappointed with my placing.  I felt I had the tools to do better, but made some silly mistakes and was unlucky in places.  I was aiming for at least top half and didn’t quite get there…Next time.

 My games were all played against local players, and all were played in great spirit  and I enjoyed all of them immensely.  Thanks guys.

 My memory will be foggy so please forgive mistakes.  I also took no photos.

 

GAME 1 – Pete Dunn – Skaven

 

My tactics going into this one was to rush him and try to stop dreaded 13th at all costs.

Start of the game was going to plan, with a wolf chariot flanking the doomwheel and running it down.   Then killing the A-Bomb with the Mangler squig, only for it to get back up with 5 fucking wounds left AAAArrgggghhh!!! I HATE that frickin thing!!  I managed to Foot the Stormvermin on my left flank down to take a test and they failed to run off the board. The WLC blew itself up which was fantastic.  Pete had some unfortunate luck with his Gutter runners not coming on till late game, but I will take what I can get.  I managed to Hand my savages behind the Skaven lines and eventually get into the rear of the bells unit.  It was looking like a small win for the Greenies, until the Skaven Get out of Jail free card was 6 diced……(13th) and my Savages plus 2 Shamen and BSB that where fighting the Seer and Bell unit were turned into Rats.  A 800pt last turn swing…. Always great fun and tense games against Pete, I will get you next time RatKing.

 

14-6 to Pete

 

GAME 2 – Locky – Skaven

So two Skaven in a row….YAY for me!!  Lockys list to be honest wasn’t as strong as Petes, so I was more confident in this game, even though Locky is a very good player.  Highlights were the A-Bomb rolling like 15 inches in its first turn to sit right in front of my lines, then fleeing the charge of flanking trolls, and fleeing again from charging chariot to be chased off the board.  I managed to hand the Savages again to the flank of the Furnace unit, and eventually grind them down.  Locky was unlucky with a failed flank charge on my double warboss orcs, although I didn’t mind the charge, as I had the crown in there, so would have held and then the Savages were going in the rear.

 
19-1 to me.

 

GAME 3 – Tom Dunn – Daemons

 
So 2 Skaven and Daemons day 1……Couldn’t think of better…Yup.  Tom was rockin double Letters both with Flaming heralds, Metal sorcerer dude, and Slugtounge( GUO with balesword).

Now this is probably the only army that I faced that I felt I was fucked from the start.  Double flaming Heralds mean my Trolls are fucked.  Killing blow means my characters can’t really go into the Letters.  And a big fat Slugtounge running around causing mahem!!  Not to mention Tom is a Daemon master, and I was in for a tough time.  So pretty much Tom ran over the top of me this game.  Only thing that I can remember, is the GUO running into the savages, attacking the BSB,and causing no wounds, then taking 5-6 in return!! Tom needed to roll under 4 to stop the GUO popping, and promptly rolled a 3.  The GUO then proceeded on 1 wound to beat and run down the Savages after a rerollable ld 9 Steadfast test was failed, overrunning into the Trolls and chasing them down the next turn.  I can’t even remember what I killed other than the Herald of Tzeentch with a wolf chariot.  Big win to Tom.  He really played the match up well, and thoroughly deserved the win and eventual Masters Title.  Well done Mate.

 

19-1 to Tom

 

So end of day 1 and a mixed bag.  Hopefully better things to come tomorrow.

 
Game 4 – Mike King – Lizardmen

 

Mike had a Light party Slaan, a couple of scarvets, engine of the gods, 3 saurus blocks and some skinks.  I foolishly placed my Manglers both on the front line, because we were playing meeting engagement  we started close together and if I could nab first turn Mike was in trouble.  But I completely forgot about burning alignment, and lost both L.   The trolls then spent 5 turns hacking the engine down.  Mike’s Slaan miscast on the last turn, rolled a 1 for cupped balls, then rolled a 3 on the miscast table, but managed to avoid the hole.

 10-10 draw.

 

Game 5 – Raymond – Beasts

 

I think Beastmen are a good army, and better than most people think, and with a former master pushing them round, it would be a tight game.  This was watchtower and Ray won the right to put something in it, but declined. This was great as it allowed me to put the savages in there, and nothing is getting them out.  Coming into the second day of the masters, I was a bit behind the eightball, so decided to try and push for points.  I pushed the savages out the far side of the building to try and push for points, and put the trolls in the building.   Then Ray turned his Death mage around and cast purple sun down my lines, hitting the building, and killing 22 bigunz and 6 trolls…..Fuck.  There was a large amount of 6 dicing going on this game, from both sides.  In the end, I had 1 model, my BSB, holding the Tower against the hordes of beasts.

 
19-1 to Ray

 

Game 6 – Joel – Empire

 

So lots of knights and angry quarter packs running around.  I was happy with this matchup, as mi list was well built to take on armour.  Joel was very aggressive this game.  He put the 5 Demis into the front of my double warboss orcs, I killed some and held, then got the trolls into the flank and wiped them out.  Then the 3 Demis came into the warboss orcs and knight bus into trolls. Trolls got run down, and 3 demis got killed.  Eventually the knight bus went into warboss orcs, and the orcs eventually wore them down. 

 
20 nil to the Orcs

 

So all in all it was a really fun tournament, and has only spurred me further to get back next year and give a better showing.  Thanks to the umpires  and everyone who helped out, was great fun.  Also congrats to all the place getters,  all well deserved.

21 comments:

  1. G'day mate,

    In Game 1, were your Savage Orcs in combat with the Bell unit when they got 13thed? That can't be right, it can't be cast into combat, except against Slaves.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Tane. Yes they were in combat with the Seer and Bell. I queried this at the time, and we couldn't find the ruling saying he couldn't cast it. My argument was that you cant cast it into combat that any Skaven character was involved in. We even asked TO James and we all couldn't find an answer. If you could shed some light?

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    2. Page 31 BRB Choosing a target, 4th bullet point: wizards cannot target spells at units engaged in close combat.

      Unless the life is cheap rule works for all vermin and not just slaves? IDK I'm no rat expert

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  2. Oh, and I meant to say, good on you for making it in the first place. Good luck next year getting another go at it.

    Cheers,

    Tane

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  3. Tane,

    I've never cast it into combat before so wasn't sure. And nothing ever fights the bell unit so I didn't know. It's not 8th Ed spell so targeting not covered in rulebook.

    We weren't sure and a quick look gave us no answer so we asked James.

    The spell says:

    This spell can affect a single infantry unit within 24" and LOS of the caster.

    We asked James and he ruled it could. There was nothing in Skaven FAQ.

    If we got it wrong I'm sorry Sam. But I'm glad we asked James

    Pete

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    Replies
    1. No need to be sorry mate. I think we did all we could at the time to clarify the situation.

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    2. I always thought that no matter what the spell, you still had to follow the rules for casting a spell in the BRB on page 31 unless the spell states otherwise

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    3. Page 31 also says:

      Some unique spells, or spells printed in older Warhammer Armies books, do not have a type -- their text will contain any casting restrictions that apply.

      Hence the debate. I personally would take the least beneficial - which now would be not into combat unless slaves (assuming the spell = ranged attack.

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    4. Yeah I have to agree it is a mess.

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  4. With 7th edition spells and earlier editions the spell wording used to specifically say "can be cast into close combat" otherwise you were not allowed to. With 8th, the wording says just apply the wording of the spell.
    So there is a silent bit in the 7th edition spells as it did not have to state the situation as it was covered in the basic rules. Rawyers could argue otherwise but I prefer the interpretation that you can't cast into combat as that was the original intent. As additional examples it applies to Gateway and Ecstatic Seizures as well.

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  5. Found the relevant rules:

    Pg 31 - Heading Choosing a target wrote:

    Targetting restrictions vary from spell to spell. However, unless stated otherwise the following rules apply:

    The target must lie within the Wizard's forward arc.

    The Wizard does not need line of sight to his target.

    The target must lie within the spell's range.

    Wizards cannot target spells at units engaged in close combat.

    Some spells have a type that enforces additional casting restrictions, or waive others. There are five distinct types of a spell: augment, direct damage, hex, magic missile and magical vortex.

    Some unique spells, or spells printed in older Warhammer Armies books, do not have a type -- their text will contain any casting restrictions that apply.


    So the general rule is "no" except unless stated otherwise. Then you have the last sentence. So it is at best very ambiguous.

    Looking at the rules I'd be inclined to take the less beneficial reading which means not into combat for 13th (except against slaves). However I'd be saying the same for Flames of the Phoenix which I have had cast on me in combat.

    What are your thoughts?

    Pete

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    Replies
    1. I didn't really have a problem with it being cast into a combat, I thought Skaven could do that. My concern was that it was a combat that involved the Seer himself.

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    2. There is certainly nothing that stops it being the Seer casting it. The three choices are:

      1) Into any combat

      2) Into combat with slaves

      3) Not into combat at all

      I don't think the rules are definitive for either 1) or 3). As it is ambiguous I'd now be inclined to say 3) which is less beneficial to the Skaven player. The question is whether it can then be overridden by the Slave special rule: Expendable. To do so means that it is a ranged attack. Does it meet those criteria?

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    3. I don't think Flames of the phoenix can target engaged enemies as well. Spells need to be either the Hex or Augment type, or specifically say in the spell text if they can.

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    4. Lot of High Elf players do.

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    5. I wouldn't be casting Flames into combat either, nor any other spell that didn't have a specific exemption in the wording.

      I brought this up only because I've had this discussion before (about Warlock Engineers in Slave units preventing shooting and magic into combat). I was surprised to see it go through, but hey, Warhammer's so massively complex noone's going to be 100% accurate.

      And it happened to Orcs. So it wasn't a bad outcome after all.

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  6. Nice write up Sam. I think everyone experienced massive swings and situations that are impossible to take into account. I think nobody went undefeated in the whole tournament which is great!

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  7. correction: last game was won 16-4 not 20-nil.

    Looks like you have just a wee bit more luck than I did!

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  8. Ok, I told ya thinks would be hazy. Doubt it Mr double 1's!!

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