Jarrett's Necronomicon 2007 Battle Report
by Jarrett Messing

Game 5

During lunchtime discussion I learned that Rob had drew his game and we threw around speculation as to point distributions for a Win/Loss/Draw trying to see who was in contention for overall. By pure records, there were perhaps one or two people with 4-0. One of these was definitely Jordan Braun, but everyone seemed to suspect he was out of it due to soft scores from a prior game. This put my 3-1 record and more especially Rob's 3-0-1 record fairly high on the charts, so I was optimistic that he was still in it for the big win, and that I had hope for a very solid finish.

Looking at my pairings I saw that I would be playing "Yuri the Devil". I was pretty curious to see who this guy was as I'd seen his unusual nickname listed previously, and one really must wonder if "the Devil" is appropriate for anyone playing a miniatures game. When I got to my table I couldn't find him anywhere. Turns out I just needed to look up a couple of feet. Yuri the Devil is a devilish 6'5" by my guess, to my Davidian 5'9". I concluded the nickname worked.

I'd heard some hubbub that this was the guy who got into it with Jordan, and was responsible for nailing him on soft scores, so I was curious what I was in for. In an added little twist, it turns out Yuri is former Army. Being in the Corps myself, this added a dimension of friendly rivalry about the game.

We shook hands, did introductions, and got to it. Looking about I was happy to see I was amongst friendly faces - Robb Kopp and Todd Wiatt were about, and I was playing next to Tony Mullins who I played round 5 the previous year. The tables were also placed and pairings arranged by overall positioning, so I was happy to see I was amidst the top tier. The action at these tables counted.

The scenario was simply a pitched battle, with bonus points for murdering the enemy general while keeping your own alive. Terrain looked to be pretty well spread, so we agreed to leave it be. Looking at Yuri's army - and I had noticed it previously as it had a variety of forgeworld monstrosities - I was a bit worried about my ability to slug this one out.

Yuri's army was: a Khorne Shaggoth Champion w/ armor (3+) & Great Weapon, Khorne Exalted Daemon w/ Blade of the Ether, Khorne Exalted Champion w/ killing blow weapon on Juggernaut of Khorne, 4x 5 Flesh Hounds, 4x 5 Chaos Hounds, 2x 20 Chaos Hounds, 6x Beastmen Chariots, Chaos Giant w/ Mutant Monstrosity.

Yuri and his massive host (note that big squat monsters are chariots):

Right off the bat Yuri had the advantage of deployment. He basically out-junked me with all of the hound units - 18 deployments in all. Also, I recognized that, with all his big nasties, pretty much everything in my army that could would be taking a terror test at some point. 6x of any chariots, let alone beast chariots, are a concern. My one strength was his low leadership and high mass, so if I began wiping/breaking units in the right places, hopefully panic would see me through. The Shaggoth's armor would be too much for my skinks, and really I had little that could outright kill him, so what shots I had would go to the giant and flying daemon while I drew the Shaggoth off. My biggest concern was how to extract points from Yuri's army.

Lacking sense of what I would be facing where, I deployed a fairly central line - hardest hitters front and center with skinks across the front - figuring I could adjust as needed with my faster elements. I favored the left slightly for its two woods and gap, figuring it would mitigate Yuri's numbers slightly, and serve as a good pivot point for my salamanders. Saurus would plug this gap and delay if nothing else while I pushed hard up the center. My terradons had limited use though they could reliably kill hounds and bait the frenzied.

Yuri and I square off each prepared to go up the gut:

Yuri got first turn which prevented me from setting up early traps. He screened his exalted on juggernaut with a unit of hounds, and moved his flesh hounds aggressively forward, his chariots holding a bit further back as a second wave. He was careful to keep these far from my oldblood so that if I charged he would simply flee to avoid destruction. On the left he followed up flesh hounds with the flying daemon. His big boys slunk up to the woods to avoid shooting.

I opened my turn with an oldblood charge out of the skinks, not at his chariots which would fee and leave me stranded, but rather at his most central flesh hounds. I figured it'd better I charge than be charged (especially while with skinks), and this would at least lock up his middle, and with luck pop the unit and give him some tests to take.

My leftmost saurus advanced to plug up the flesh hounds, just within their range to cause a frenzy charge, and out of danger of his big stuff for at least this turn as none of it had line of sight. 1 on 1 the saurus had a very good chance of at least holding if not winning. This was important as I moved my salamanders behind them into position to flame anything emerging from around or in the woods, and in range to target the hounds blocking the large hound unit with the juggernaut exalted. Also, my left krox unit advanced in front of the jugger-hound unit to shorten the frenzy charge should I succeed in destroying that hound unit - this would affect where he would wind up subsequently if he broke them.

My terradons on the left cut to the side of his flesh hounds/exalted daemon with my central 'dons cutting left to replace them on the hill overlooking the battle. My skink priest moved right up to the woods to take a terror test while in the general's leadership so I could subsequently run him around without worry march blocking, etc.

On my right my skinks cut 12" straight right by an impassable building to avoid being charged and harass the hounds coming through that flank, possibly to intercept a frenzy charge the following turn. My center inched up generally keeping out of charge ranges.

On my left I shot my terradon javelins at the flesh hounds to cut down on their charge attacks for the saurus. I pegged one and Yuri removed the leftmost model, exposing the 'dons to the exalted daemon charge. It was iffy whether or not they could be seen, but either way worked for me.

My salamanders opened fire on the hounds blocking the jugger-hound unit and wiped them off the table. The blue chariot failed its panic test and ran, but more importantly this exposed the kroxigors to a frenzy charge.

The frenzy is triggered and things get messy:

On Yuri's turn the flesh hounds hit the saurus on my left, the exalted daemon hit the terradons towards the board edge, the jugger-hound unit was forced into the kroxigors. The rest of Yuri's army inched up, the giant moving to within 2" of the wood edge, his chariot and Shaggoth Champion coming around the woods to my left.

His blue chariot rallied.

The exalted daemon blew through the terradons and pursued them off the table. The 4 flesh hounds hit the saurus killing 2 and suffering no wounds in return. Because of the 2 kills I no longer outnumbered him, and losing by 1 my saurus block fled and were run down, the hounds pursuing into the salamanders.

The jugger-hound unit hit the krox hard, killing one. All 6 return attacks went on the Juggernaut Exalted, but I only managed one wound after ward saves. The krox predictably broke and the pursuit took the unit about 10" forward, flank exposed to my saurus and scar-vet general. The oldblood continued to grind the flesh hounds, killing 1 for the second time in a row.

I had some critical charges this next turn, opportunities which would break open the center and hopefully cut down on the sheer volume of units I was up against. I declared a flank charge on the Jugger-Hound unit. As his flight path went through several of my units, Yuri was forced to hold. If I broke this unit as I hoped, my pursuit would have the added benefit of taking me out of the Giant's charge. In the center, my BSB, passing stupidity (as he would all battle), charged Yuri's slug chariot which erroneously held. My stegadon charged the rightmost large hound unit and Yuri fled. My skinks ran around the house out of the flesh hounds arc, and my central saurus repositioned, remaining in the jugger-hounds flight path. To my far right, I noticed Yuri had put his chariots a bit too forward. I declared with my kroxigors and, thinking I was out, Yuri held...

They were definitively in, using their one wheel to navigate around the hounds, and naturally turned that chariot to splinter-wood. The purple chariot to its left failed panic and ran towards the middle of the board. The stegadon moved up after its failed charge. My BSB rightly did several wounds to the chariot-slug and it broke, the BSB's pursuit carrying it alongside the large fleeing hound unit. My Oldblood finally burst the flesh hound unit which panicked the chariot closest to the giant. The terradons on the hill behind the salamanders hopped far right, out of line, and despite casualties, causing a wound in return, my Salamanders held.

In the major combat my flanking saurus and scar veteran dropped the ball, killing only 3 hounds out of a combined 13 strength 4 & 5 attacks. Fortunately, fate decided not to rip my balls off and the unit broke anyway and was cross-fired by the saurus on their opposite side. Unfortunately my pursuit took me 2", still in the Giant's arc and charge range.

Yuri declared his requisite charge, the Shaggoth Champion of Khorne! charging my embattled salamanders, and appropriately blowing through them. Yuri's remaining large hound unit continued to flee, but remained barely on the board. All fleeing chariots rallied. His blue chariot from the turn before shuffled little, clearly an offering to the oldblood as Yuri positioned the chariot to the far left aiming directly at it. The rightmost flesh hounds, with nothing available to charge, repositioned facing inward. The leftmost chariot charged my leftmost skinks who fled off the table edge, the chariot moving forward around the woods. Despite it being right in front of him on table where it "left", Yuri failed to move the daemon exalted. The Giant declared the obvious charge on my saurus/general unit. I declined and fled, rolling a paltry 3 or 4" and was run down. Blech, why do we use dice in this game again?

On my turn my stegadon charged the rallied purple chariot which fled. My Oldblood took the bait and hit Yuri's blue chariot, annihilating it and preparing to receive a chariot charge in return. My BSB charged the large hound unit off the table, and to my right the skinks emerged from behind the building to dart two flesh hounds. My javelin skinks moved to the table edge to avoid any charges, my terradons hopping forward, and combined they managed a wound on the giant. The kroxigors on the right turned around next to the flesh hounds, facing the stegadon which they would move into on Yuri's turn. My saurus angled to present their front, making the best of their impending death.

Yuri opened his turn with a much relished charge on the Oldblood, his flesh hounds obligated to flank the stegadon. He moved his daemon this time, and along with the Shaggoth, a chariot, and the giant, formed a line of his biggest and baddest between my table edge and the woods, giant now angled to hit my saurus' flank. His purple chariot failed to rally and fled off the table.

The stegadon proved too tough for the hounds, though as I suspected, they didn't explode.

Wall of dinosaur:

Saurus without hope

My Oldblood took the chariot charge like a champ. I opted to use my hand weapon and shield, not wanting to risk so many points on a fluke, and with a 4+/4+ absorbed the multitude of impact and crew attacks taking but a single wound. I used up a re roll to stay above half wounds, and succeeded in breaking and destroying the chariot.

On my turn I elected to rear charge the flesh hounds flanking my Stegadon, annihilating them. My Oldblood maneuvered into the woods with a view of the center. At this point I was pretty sure I was down points, but knew it was close. I adopted a more defensive strategy as I still had plenty of shooting. My saurus edged back keeping chargers in their front arc. They lined up so that a charge and follow through would expose Yuri's units to the Oldblood's counter charge. My priest headed towards the house in Yuri's deployment zone. The Terradons passed their terror test and hopped behind Yuri's line of beasts, the javelins also shuffling out of the way of the motley collection of monsters and managing another wound on the giant.

New lines are drawn

Yuri doesn't like the prospect of facing the Oldblood again

Yuri's giant finally accepted his offering and charged the saurus. They fled, hopeless, and were run down. Yuri inched his chariot forward, and edged his shaggoth along, I believe in anticipation of me charging the giant. Yuri's exalted daemon cut right angling at my stegadon and kroxigors, also aligned for a counter charge. His 2 remaining hounds swung left to head around the woods.

I declined any charges and my skinks and terradons all maneuvered behind his prince out of the shaggoth's alignment. They unloaded their collective firepower and, after ward saves, managed 2 out of the daemons 3 wounds. Yuri expressed discontent at my unwillingness to engage and I highlighted the fact that he had all enormous things remaining. I wasn't sure of the points left, but I simply wasn't putting it all out there while I still had guns - we'd already fought plenty.

My BSB cut left to intercept the still frenzied hounds, moving to what looked like less that 14" away. My Stegadon and Kroxigors repositioned facing the right way, my stegadon angling and taking a shot with its giant bow and javelins. With this I managed 2 more wounds on the giant, taking him below half. My rightmost skinks kept away, moving to the border of the table quarters in case one or the other was jeopardized.

Switching modes and skimming for points:

On Yuri's turn he declared the exalted's frenzy charge on the kroxigors hoping for some hot dice - it was either that or the stegadon. His giant reformed towards the stegadon and krox and his chariot inched up more. Forced by frenzy his last two hounds charged my BSB. They couldn't penetrate his 2+ save and he wiped them out. Yuri mistakenly faced his Shaggoth towards my skinks. The exalted put 2 wounds on the kroxigors. They responded in kind with 9 strength 7 attacks and sent him home.

On my final turn I failed to put any wounds on the shaggoth or giant with shooting. I maneuvered for quarters and declared one final charge. The Oldblood was now within 2" of the wood edge from the chariot's new position, and he annihilated it handily to close the game.

We added up the points, and by the graces of the last few turns, being a sneaky disengagement git, and copious doses of poison, I won it.

This was the game I was most pleased with the way I played. I projected force where needed - where Yuri's leadership was weakest - and managed to avoid the heaviest-hitting elements of his army. Yuri played a good game, and used his sheer volume of units and staggered approach to force me to risk counter-charges. He had some hot dice, but they carried over to his leadership tests which was immensely helpful, and I chose the right time to consolidate and switch modes. Skinks and terradons passing their terror tests was also critical.

All in all I found Yuri to be a pleasant opponent. He seemed to be enjoying the game with me for most it. My disappointment was that, in the end, he seemed displeased about how I chose to play. When I asked if he enjoyed the game, he said something like "well, you avoided me." Frankly, looking at the table, this was perhaps the most combat intensive, massively destructive battle of the tournament for me. I just recognized when it was time to pull back and let the other half of my army play its game, one that he didn't have. This put a sour note on an otherwise good game.

26 point victory for the lizards! (who kills a Shaggoth Champion general? Not me!)

Aftermath! >>