Bayou Battles Round 4 BR

It is Sunday morning. I have a record of 2 wins and 1 draw. I have 51 points. There is only 1 player at 3-0 with 58 points. The most anyone else can have is 55, but that last scenario made it difficult to get all 20, so probably more likely 53. So I'm right in the top 5-6 in battle with 2 rounds to go.

I find my opponent is David Long. Now David and I have a bit of history. We met in the first round of the Lone Wolf last year where his Lizardmen beat my Skaven. It was a great game that was spoiled slightly by the fact that he rallied his general in a unit with 1 skink left. Something he shouldn't have been able to do. We both missed it, those things happen. His general went on to play a major part of the victory. And I end up going 4-1 in the tounament and walked away empty handed.
So I kick myself when I think about that.

David is a member of the Direwolf FAQ council as am I. So we both know the rules very well. And know how to push them to the limits.

We are both at 2-0-1 and have 51 points. But now I'm playing my Beast army and he has his High Elves. His army looks like:

Archmage Lvl 4, Staff os solidity (ignore first miscast), Amulet of Pure flame, (-3 enemy casting at unit), Seer (pick his spells), D.scroll, pure of heart.

Mage Lvl 2, Ring of Corin(Vauls unmaking), Silver wand(extra spell)

Commander, hvy armor, barded steed, BSB, helm of fortune, Sword of Might.
(2+ re-rollable armor save, +1 strength)

21 spear elves, mus, standard to treat difficult terrain as open.
3x 5 Silver helms, 2+ armor

6 Dragon Princes, champ, standard, warbanner
21 Sword masters, full command, banner of sorcery
7 shadow warriors
2 Great Eagles
2 RBTS.

I have no real problem with Davids list, but I think the Banner of Sorcery put it over what I'd call a Indy GT list. Anything that takes you into double digit power dice, and now add in a bound item, is just wrong to me for an Indy GT. So David, if you read this, I did mark you down one from normal because of the double digit power dice.

I have a small check list in my head, and if you exceed any of these, you get dinged. That is just me. I actually decide what I'm giving an army before the game.

We set up and roll for the first turn. I have my choice and I think I made the worse decision I possibly could by letting David go first. Maybe this was because I knew I was going to ding his army, or maybe I was just tired. Either way I think it cost me.

Turn 1a: David runs a few units up. He runs his BSB right up in front of my hounds that are shielding Ratspawn and company.
Then comes the magic phase. 10 power dice and the bound spell. He wants to unmake my d.scroll. I throw one dice at it and stop it. I then end up burning both scrolls. One was a big mistake on.
Shooting didn't do much.

Turn 1b: Hounds charge the BSB. Then hopeing my spawn might make it as well, I roll a whopping 7" and fall short. Everyone else moves up.
BSB wins combat, hounds break and run through Ratspawn, who makes his panic. Now wanting the BSB to pursue, he passes his restraint roll.
I have 2 spells to cast. Dark hand at his mage lord and the spear thrower at a silver helm. I decide on the spear first and get IF!! Ugghhh, if I do the dark hand first, I get it off on his Mage lord. Doh!?!? I kill the Silver helm and he dispels dark hand.

Turn 2a: He charges a unit of 4 RatOgres in the flank with the spear elves. Its a long 10", and I debate it for some time. If I stand and he is in range, he breaks them, and hits my herd and probably breaks them as well. I couldn't take the chance and I flee. We measured it and he was 10 1/2" out. Ugghhh!! Another mistake on my part.
He moves a unit of Silver helms up and at an angle to Ratspawn to lead me away from the combat.
For magic he gets 11 power dice. He tries Vauls on my sword, I let it go and its out of range. He then blasts a unit of 3 Rat Ogres who were setup to charge the flank of the spear elves. I'm down to 1 Rat Ogre there. He also blasts my 5 furies killing them down to 2.

Turn 2b: I had no choice but to charge the silver helms with Ratspawn and group. I also charge a unit of Silver helms with the BSB with a herd. 2 Furies into his mage lord on his own. He holds with everything.
Ratspawn makes it easily, and wipes out the whole unit.
The herd is just in.
The furies are 20 and 1/32" away. In 90% of my games I'd give that to my opponent, but no deal with David. I was short and stopped 1" out from him.
In the herd my Wargor and BSB end up in a challenge. With my 3 attacks I get 2 wounds and he fails both 5+ armor saves and on the re-roll!! So I kill him. Then with the rest of my 13 or so str 3,4 & 5 attacks, I can't get a wound. I still win combat, but he makes his break test. If he misses this, I hit the flank of his swordmasters.
The 4 fleeing Rat Ogres rallied as did the hounds.

Turn 3a: I had moved the lone Rat Ogre in front of his spear elves so he would have to charge him. So he did, I fled and he catches me moving the full 10".
His Dragon Princes charge my spawn that had moved a big 5" the previous turn.
He lands an Eagle right by Ratspawn, trying to force the charge again.
He charges an eagle at the recently rallied chaos hounds and got his sword masters into my herd in combat with the silverhelms.
His shadow warriors charge my furies.

Magic combined with affective shooting continues to pound me and I'm losing troops fast.

In combat, my hounds beat his eagle, but it stays.
My furies take no wounds, and get 2 hits, but only 1 wound on the shadow warriors so its a draw.
In the big combat, he kills my wargor, kills my shaman with a horse and breaks the units and the silverhelms run it down. The swordmasters restrain.

Turn 3b: This got real tricky here, but I charge my herd at the eagle in combat with the hounds.
I charge Rat Ogres and chariot into silverhelms on the left flank.
The chariot behind the Rat Ogres had a small bit of LoS to hit the Eagle in front of Ratspawn and I took that charge. This surprised David and I thought I was going to bring this game back.
On the right flank my unit of 4 Rat Ogres charged the Silver helms that just caught the herd that broke. They fled and So Enemy in the way had me hitting the spear elves in the flank. He flees with them as well.
He fled the Silver helms from the combined chariot and Rat Ogre charge.

Then in movement, I made a great move where I turned Ratspawns unit to the right. Wheeled up 1 1/2 inches and then expanded frontage by 5 models. This gave me a great line to charge the flank of his swordmasters.

In combat the herd with hounds beat the eagle but it holds again.
The chariot does only 1 wound ot the eagle and he holds.
The furies lose combat and pop.

Turn 4a: No charges. He rallies his 2 silver helm units. But fails on his spear elves. He needs to head towards the side board edge. At first he wanted to wheel them, but I corrected him in that they just spin on the spot. This made a huge difference as they were now going to touch the Dragon princes and hop right over. When they did, off the board they went. The DPs make their panic test though. Damn it.
He moves Dragon Princes around to run parrallel to my back board edge on the right flank.
He surprises me by turning his Sword masters away from Ratspawn and moves as far as he can away. So he is 4+ inches out.

His magic and shooting knock down Ratspawns unit down two guys. And knock my unit of 4 on the right flank down to 3.

The Eagle in combat with the herd, holds on again.
The chariot vs eagle combat ends in a draw with him wounding me.

Turn 4b: Ratspawn charges rear or Sword masters. They need to flee at least 8" and get 9. Ugghhh!! That was huge in so many ways.
Chariot charges silver helms again.

I move some hounds over to help out the chariot vs the eagle.
I move 2 hounds in front of the DPs so that is their only charge. I move my Rat Ogres to the flank of the DPs.

The silver helms take the chariot charge but I kill all but 2 who flee and are chased down.
The herd with hounds finally break the eagle and chase it down.
The eagle takes another wound, but still holds.

Turn 5a: No charges.
He rolls a 10 to rally. I'm thinking he could end up off the table here. But he measures to his wizard lord the general and is just in the 12". He makes it. Exactly what he needs.
He backs his DPs up so the Rat Ogres are on their front.
He moves the silver helms down to support the DPs.

His magic knocks Ratspawns unit down to just 2 others besides Ratspawn. Shooting puts a wound on Ratspawn and a wound on the champ.
His magic also knocks the unit of 3 facing the DPs, down to 2.


Turn 5b: I get impatient here and charge my 2 Rat Ogres into the front of the DPs. Then move my herd up in charge range.
3 Rat Ogres charge an RBT and kill it.

In my magic phase I cast Wild Call. I need a 9 and get an 11. He rolls 4 dice to stop it and gets a 10. I'm elated until he remembers his +1 to dispel. Ugghhh!!

My 2 Rat Ogres manage to only kill 1 DP. He kills a Rat Ogre that was already wounded and breaks the other chasing him down. This panics the Herd and they flee as well. His DPs end up right behind my herd.

Turn 6a: He charges the DPs into the herd, who only flee 3", panicking a hound unit as well.
Then in magic he blasts Ratspawns unit into oblivian. Ratpsawn is left with 1 wound. So he shoots with his shadow warriors and gets 2 hits. Needing a 6 to wound. He gets it. I have a 4+ armor save and I throw a 2. Ratspawn and any hope of getting to his wizard lord is gone.
This also happened because my shaman was dead and I only had 2 dispel dice to stop a 2d6 str 4 magic missile. When I threw 3, I stopped it. Then remember I only had 2 dispel dice.
If my herd doesn't panic I stop this. Or if I get off Wild call I win that combat and same result.

Turn 6b: It doesn't matter as I'm down by over 1000 vp and almost nothing left on the board. I do finally kill the eagle fighting the chariot, but small consolation.

David had beaten me again. Congrats to David, he played a superb game. The dice seemed to favor me early on, but then they heavily favored David after I took down his BSB. I had my chances and I think if I'd gone first it would have been a much better game for me.
Now David Long is the first person to ever beat me 2 games in a row. This has never happened to me before.

I will get you next time David.

So Loss for the Beasts, Elves 19-20, Beasts 6.

Until next time...