Battle Report - Ogres vs Orcs n Goblins, attempt two

Alright, let's try this again, shall we?

As I was trying to tell you yesterday, I played another playtest battle with my Ogres tuesday. This time I played vs Greenskins, captained by my little brother. He's the one who made that giant, and I think it's awesome. Seeing it always make me crack a smile.

My brother started playing Fantasy over a decade ago, his main army being Orcs and Goblins, and over the years he accumulated quite a collection. He hasn't been playing Fantasy exclusively in those years, sometimes favouring Mordheim or sometimes just no tabletop games at all. Recently his interest in the game has been rekindled, mostly due to 8th edition being more fun and, to a lesser extent, an ever-nagging sibling (that would be me) badgering him to play more.
So, he and I both have signed up for the same tournament and we would be trying out our tournament armies against each other.

This is probably a good time to mention that I have never lost a game of warhammer to my brother. Plenty of draws, but never a loss. You can imagine how much it means to both of us to break the streak / keep the streak intact, respectively. Honour was at stake!

Ok, on to the armies!

Let's start with mine. It's the same as last battle, so no need to explain why I took what. Right?
Slaughtermaster, lvl 4 , Hellheart, Ironfist, Ironcurse Icon
Bruiser, BSB, Heavy armour, Ironfist, Banner of Eternal Flame
Butcher, lvl 2 , Ironfist, Dispel Scroll
9 Bulls, ironfist, standard bearer, musician
9 Ironguts, musician, standard bearer, Standard of Discipline
8 Leadbelchers, musician
6 Maneaters, heavy armour, brace of pistols, full command, Gleaming Pennant
1 Sabretusk
2 Sabretusks Ironblaster

Now for the Greenskins:
Savage Orc Warboss, Sword of Swift Slaying, Glittering Scales, Crown of Command
Savage Orc BSB, 4++, additional hand weapon
Savage Orc Shaman, Lvl 2, Dispel Scroll
Night Goblin Shaman, Lvl 2
Night Goblin Shaman, Lvl 1
50 Savage Orcs Big Uns, additional hand weapon, full command
15 Savage Orc Boarboyz, additional hand weapon, full command
2*2 Goblin Chariots
2 Spear Chucka's
Arachnarok Spider
Giant

At least there are no Mangler Squigs (I hate those, annoying gribblies), and no Shrunken Head, which would have made that Savage Horde even harder to deal with. As it was I knew I would be having a heckuva time dealing with 50 Savage Orcs anyway, so having them only have a 6++ was nice. But looking at his units, he had more than I did and I knew most everything in his army was capable of dealing damage to my Ogres either before or after I would strike. Of course, with an average I of 2 this is not really that surprising, but I knew I would have to start getting rid of some of his units as quickly as possible to have a chance. If he could charge one of my units with two of his, I'd lose for sure. Also, I would need at least two of my units to defeat his Savage Horde. So that would be my plan: killing some of his units quickly so that I would have a chance to defeat his big horde. With 600 pts of Core and more points from 3 characters all tied up in the one unit, I knew victory would depend on whether I could kill the Horde or not!

On to the game!

We decided to play one of the tournament missions (which, if you're interested, you can find here), rolled, and got Intercept the Messengers. In a nutshell it meant we could earn more victory points by moving our messenger models off our opponent's board edge. Not so many points they'd win you the battle, but enough to slide the type of Victory up or down a Tier, earning you slightly more or less battle points. So, important enough to keep in mind, but not game-winning.

Deployment was fairly straightforward.

He deployed his Savage Horde in the centre and flanked them on the right with the Spider and the Boarboys, and on the left with the Giant. One unit of chariots was placed on either extreme flank.
I deployed my unit Ironguts centrally, opposed to his horde. To their left I placed the Leadbelchers, then the Bulls. The Ironblaster went just to the right of my Guts. Looking back, not the smartest deployment, but let's not get ahead of things...
I was determined to make my Maneaters more useful than last time, so I placed them just forward on my (otherwise empty) right flank. They would be charged with keeping me clear there. The plan was for them to kill any messengers that came down that flank, defeat the giant, finish the chariots, and do all that in time to get back to the centre of the battlefield to help me deal with the Savage Horde! No biggy for Maneaters, right?

We rolled and I got to go first.

To give you an idea of the balance of power in this battle, the following comparison: My T1, my Ironblaster fires and hits the Spider as well as three Savage Orcs. I wound one Orc. His T1, both his Spear Chucka's fire at my Ironblaster, which is at long range for them. My Ironblaster dies.

Not one of those battles.... Please. I can't lose this battle. Honour is at stake!

Memorable Occurences:
> After I had lost my Ironblaster in T1, I only had my Leadbelchers and Magic to do damage to the Orcs at range. While both could potentially be potent, I could now target less units than before, which meant I couldn't kill as many units before he reached me as I'd want. Case in point: my Leadbelchers now needed to decide wether to target the Spider or the Boarboys. Deciding 15 Boarboys were the biggest threat I shot and killed 10 of them over 2 turns. Predictably, the Spider then charged my Leadbelchers, who fled and died after one round of combat.
> This in turn meant my Bulls would have to deal with two chariots and the remaining Boarboys by themselves. I decided I would have a better chance if I charged him instead of the other way round, and I declared a charge on the Boarboyz my T2, needing to roll a 9. I didn't, got charged myself, fled and died after one turn of combat. At least I killed all the remaining Boarboys before I ran.
> A classic example of wacky Warhammer terrain interfering with my battleplan: my solo Tusk, who was deployed in front of the Savage Horde, had LOS to the lvl Night Goblin Shaman who was standing next to the horde. All I needed to do was charge through a tiny bit of forest and then I could reach him. I was hoping he would choose flee as a charge reaction as that would leave the Tusk in prime position to draw the Savage Horde forward D6" on a failed charge, leaving me with a turn more to deal with the rest of his army. Great plan, right? So I declared, he fled (3"!), yet I failed to catch him, and I ended up in the middle of that tiny piece of Forest, which turned out to be a Fungus Forest. No! Now the Tusk was Stupid, and could no longer flee when it got charged by the Savage Horde, who would then be in prime position to overrun into my Ironguts, standing about 8" behind the Tusk.
> Thankfully that didn't matter too much, as he didn't roll high enough for his pursuit roll. This allowed me to charge him and at least get my Impact hits. I rolled a 10 for the distance: 4D3 hits! Combined with my Slaughtermaster and BSB I killed 9 Orcs and took a wound off both his BSB and the Orc Shaman. Not too shabby, and I still had my Guts left to fight with. All I had to do was weather his attacks first. But those darn Big Uns have S5 in the first round of combat and he caused 19 wounds with his 32 attacks! Darnit! Again, I fled and died after one round of combat.
> You might have wondered why I haven't mentioned the Maneaters yet. Well, I was saving them for last. They performed admirably and were one of the few bright spots in the battle for me. They did everything I asked of them and more! They shot and killed a messenger T1, shot 2 wounds off the chariots T2, then finished off the chariots with a stand and shoot attack in his T2. They killed the Giant in that same combat phase, and then proceded to shoot both lone Night Goblin Shamans in T3 and T4 respectively. And then, to top it off, and because the battle was pretty much lost by then anyway, they charged the Horde and finished off both the BSB and the Orc Shaman! Of course they died themselves, but they earned me more VP than the rest of my army combined. Heck, thinking about it now, they scored me almost ALL my Victory Points!

Afterthoughts:
> I'll make these quick and short because I've already made this far longer than I intended!
> I can't believe I lost!
> Magic failed me utterly, which it is bound to do every now and again. I got one spell off all game, mostly beacause I rolled low for magic dice and casting rolls.
> On the topic of Magic, this was the first game I regretted not taking Death. Purple Sun would have been great vs the Savage Horde. But I feel Heavens provides better utility.
> Hellheart did zilch. I popped it a turn too soon and whiffed on my roll.
> I need to pay better attention to my deployment. I've gotten so used to outnumbering my opponent when playing with Skaven it seems I forgot how to deploy in force on one flank against a more numerous opponent. Something to remember next battle!
> I can't believe I lost! Somewhat reluctant kudoes to my Brother for winning the battle. Well played!

No next battle planned yet. Anyone up for a game?

Next Thursday is our next Campaign Day, so expect updates on that after. In the meantime, I have plenty more stuff to write about!

*edit* yeah, it worked! Now if only I could get the app the publish the post properly instead of one big block of text.... Wouldn't that save me a lot of time having to edit it!