Great Lakes Warhammer League: First Game - Beastmen vs Chaos Warriors of Khorne

Image from http://chrzan666.deviantart.com/

Wednesday night I was able to grab a game of Warhammer Fantasy in with Jeremy who was playing Warriors of Chaos. He was my first round matchup for the Great Lakes Warhammer League. In case you hadn't seen the guidelines - basically a 2500 point game, no repeated rares, no units over 500 points.

Here is my list:

2500pt Beastmen Roster (Standard)

Lords (483pts)

• Beastlord (218pts) Armour of Fortune, Crown of Command, Shield
• Great Bray-Shaman (265pts) Talisman of Endurance, Wizard Level 4

Heroes (477pts)

• Bray-Shaman (125pts) Shard of the Herdstone, Wizard Level 1
• Bray-Shaman (100pts) Dispel Scroll, Wizard Level 1
• Gorebull (242pts)  Battle Standard Bearer, Gnarled Hide, Gold Sigil Sword, Heavy armour, Ramhorn Helm, Shield

Core (635pts)

• Gor Herd (345pts) Full command, additional hand weapon, 40 Gor
• Tuskgor Chariot (80pts)
• Ungor Herd (210pts) Full Command, 39 Ungor
  
  

Special (405pts)

• Minotaurs (360pts) 6x Minotaurs, Standard bearer, Banner of Eternal Flame
• Razorgor Herd (55pts)

Rare (500pts)

• Ghorgon (275pts)
• Giant (225pts)

Created with BattleScribe

Now you might be saying... Muggins... the Giant and Ghorgon are TURRIBLE. You're right. They're not great. But I painted them and I figured Jeremy wouldn't have any shooting (I was right). Unfortunately he did have immune to psychology on almost his entire army, so their terror and fear didn't help me.

So on to Jeremy's list:

2500 Pts - Warriors of Chaos Roster

Chaos Lord (1#, 369 pts)
   1 Chaos Lord of Khorne, 369 pts (Berserk Rage; General; Mark of Khorne; Barding; Hand Weapon; Chaos Armour; Frenzy)      1 Chaos Steed      1 Ogre Blade      1 Charmed Shield      1 Talisman of Endurance      1 Helm of Many Eyes      1 Soporific Musk

Sorcerer (2#, 235 pts)
   1 Chaos Sorcerer of Tzeentch, 235 pts (Mark of Tzeentch; Level 2 Upgrade; Hand Weapon; Chaos Armour)      1 Disc of Tzeentch (Flaming Attacks; Causes Fear; Flyer)      1 Power Familiar      1 Golden Eye of Tzeentch      1 Third Eye of Tzeentch      1 The Lore of Tzeentch

Exalted Hero (1#, 245 pts)
   1 Exalted Hero of Khorne, 245 pts (Berserk Rage; Mark of Khorne; Hand Weapon; Chaos Armour; Frenzy)      1 Juggernaut of Khorne (Causes Fear; Magic Resistance (1))      1 Axe of Khorne      1 Favour of the Gods      1 Stream of Corruption

Chaos Marauders (40#, 238 pts)
   40 Chaos Marauders of Khorne, 238 pts (Berserk Rage; Mark of Khorne; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Flail; Frenzy)

Chaos Warriors (24#, 451 pts)
   24 Chaos Warriors of Khorne, 451 pts (Berserk Rage; Mark of Khorne; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Chaos Armour; Shield; Frenzy)
      1 War Banner

Chaos Knights (9#, 450 pts)
   9 Chaos Knights of Khorne, 450 pts (Berserk Rage; Mark of Khorne; Standard Bearer Std; Barding; Ensorcelled Weapons; Chaos Armour; Shield; Causes Fear; Frenzy)
      9 Chaos Steed
      1 Blasted Standard

Chaos Warshrine (1#, 150 pts)
   1 Chaos Warshrine of Tzeentch, 150 pts (Mark of Tzeentch)

Skullcrushers of Khorne (5#, 355 pts)
   5 Skullcrushers of Khorne, 355 pts (Berserk Rage; Standard Bearer Std; Ensorcelled Weapons; Mark of Khorne; Chaos Armour; Shield; Frenzy)
      5 Juggernaunt of Khorne (Causes Fear; Magic Resistance (1))
      1 Banner of Rage

Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com

It is pretty tough. Lots of armor saves and high toughness... lots of immune to psychology. TONS of attacks. I knew I would survive the first turn with no shooting at me but it was beastmen brawn vs chaos warrior armor...

Battle report! Most of my stuff is still unpainted... Jeremy's is fully painted. I'll post some photos but mostly it'll be via Battle Chronicler, a sweet battle report making tool.

The initial setup. We were playing Meeting Engagement - a diagonal deployment where you rolled for every unit and on a 1 they couldn't come in. As you can see I didn't have much of my army in. I had a TON of bad rolls. Sorry if I missed anything; I'm writing this a while after the fact.

My minotaurs made it on the board with the gorebull BSB. The ghorgon deployed on the altar - we decided to treat it as a hill. The bray shamans deployed near the herdstone. Putting my BSB out there so early was a really bad idea =( Jeremy lined up as best he could to try to smash my lines on turn one. 

Chaos turn one. He marched up to get in my grill. He didn't anticipate that my ghorgon and minotaurs could charge the same target (the Skullcrushers). Not much happened in the magic phase. 

My army comes on in the bottom of turn one. The Gor horde was placed way too far on the flank... they probably should have switched spots with the ungor. I thought perhaps I could charge on turn two and get a flank or rear but that didn't happen. Jeremy is so far in my grill that it is tough!

Bottom of turn one - the minotaurs and ghorgon charge in. He challenges with his hero and my gorebull accepts; I get enough attacks in with my combination of items that I slay his hero. It isn't enough, however, as the highly armored targets are able to take down a ton of minotaurs. They take off. The level 4 great bray switches spots after casting a Shadow spell so he won't be charged by the chaos knights.

The gorebull leads a minotaur away. Really disappointed in their performance but I guess I shouldn't have expected much. They would have done much better vs the chaos warriors who lack the number of high strength attacks to chew them up.

Top of turn two; the chaos knights charge my minotaur and slaughter them. The marauders close in on the ghorgon but fail to take him down. He's stubborn leadership 10 and stays in the fight. Not much happens magic-wise. Jeremy tried a bunch of times to get the unit-killer Tzeentch spell off on me but it didn't work.

I was dispirited by the way the minos died so fast but decided to get stuck in on the bottom of turn two. My chariot and razorgor charged the Skullcrushers... not managing to do anything. The giant charged the chaos knights and did a wound or two. My attempts to buff my troops fail. My gor horde failed a charge and basically languished in the back.  My great bray switches back because I don't want him to get killed by the chaos knights; I also feel like he has some combat prowess he could use against the marauders when the ghorgon died.

The ghorgon dies, the chariot gets run down, and the razorgor runs away. My giant is holding his own against the chaos knights. The warriors move up in the back and set up for a charge. The marauders are basically out in the open. 

The razorgor is blocking the Gor charge. I wish he had failed his rally test. 

The bottom of turn three. The giant breaks the chaos knights and runs toward the chaos warriors. The ungor and beastlord and great bray charge the marauders, chopping them up. The marauders do significant damage to the ungor but my crown of command keeps me in.

At this point I'm feeling like perhaps I can pull something out of this game. The chaos knights are going to kill my shamans on the right but I can't do anything about that. The marauders break during Jeremy's turn and run. The chaos knights rallied, just BARELY. 

The final turn of the game due to time. The razorgor and giant charge the knights and get chopped down after taking down the Chaos Warriors. 

All in all it was a very bloody battle. I lost a ton of guys and had some poor luck, but had a great time. I believe the overall VP were 1400 - 840 in Jeremy's favor. If I had managed to run off the Chaos Knights it would have swung way in my favor. Jeremy's army is really well painted so we'll be showcasing it on the blog sometime soon.

Beastwoman says see you next time!