Totengräber's Workpläce

On Sunday I went over to Games To Die For to play in our local Warhammer Fantasy league. We’re starting at 200 points and adding 100 points every week until we reach 2,000 points (I think). In preparation for this, I have painted up 8 Gnoblar Trappers and some Ironguts, neither of which I ended up using.

I ended up with this list:

• Ogre Bulls x4 (champion)
• Gnoblar Fighters x20

My first game was against Bryan, who ran the following:

• Night Goblins w/spears x20 (champion, fanatic)
• Night Goblins w/spears x20 (champion, fanatic)

First few turns involved us getting lined up and ready to charge. He unleashed one Fanatic into my Ogres and did one wound. Later, those same Ogres charged the Night Goblins. Here, we messed something up and had the NG run away from the Ogres when they failed their Leadership check vs. the Ogres’ Cause Fear. The second unit let loose their Fanatic onto the Gnoblars, but he didn’t move far enough to touch them. The following turn the Fanatic killed himself running into a hill. The Gnoblars and NGs ended up fighting combat and the NGs ran. The Gnoblars ended up catching them and destroying the unit. A very good and quick game. We went through 8 turns or so, but it took less than about 30 minutes.

The second game was against the store manager, Jerry:

• Skaven Clanrats w/spears x25 (champion, standard, Warpfire Thrower)

Per the usual, we used the first turn to get into position. After a certain point, he stopped moving and let me come to within range of the Warpfire Thrower. First try fell short, but the second go with it killed 11 out of a possible 12 Gnoblars, which sent them fleeing. A third shot wounded an Ogre. The Clanrats moved forward a bit later to try to fight the Gnoblars, but ended up needing to face the Ogres or suffer a rear or flank charge. In close combat, the Ogres took out many Clanrats, but they kept their resolve with Insane Courage. Second round of close combat saw the Clanrats run down by the Ogres when they lost combat and fled.

Third game was against Aja, Bryan’s daughter:

Chaos Warriors x10 (full command, Mark of Tzeentch)

Aja pretty much made my army come to hers. There’s a lot about this game I don’t remember, but I do know there were a few flee rolls the Warriors made and the Ogres fell 1″ short of catching them. In the end, it came down to my Ogre champion versus her Warrior champion. The Warrior was able to win combat and make the Ogre champ flee. He fled 12″, failed his next rally, fled 11″, failed another rally and fled 12 more inches off the table. Probably the most unpredictable and fun game of WHFB I’ve had so far.

Fourth game was against Bryan’s other daughter, Clarissa:

• Dark Elf Warriors w/spears x15 (full command)
• Dark Riders x5

Clarissa also spent the first few turns making me come to her. Her Dark Riders tried to draw first blood by charging the Ogres. They caused maybe 1 wound and the Ogres smashed 3 of the 5 in return. They fled from the Ogres, but the Ogres were unable to catch them. The Gnoblars went up against the DE Warriors and were able to kill a few and a few Gnoblars fell as well. Neither unit fled, however, and eventually the Ogres charged into the Warriors flank. The Warriors fled and the Gnoblars were able to catch them.

So after a day of 200 point games, I came out with 3 wins and 1 loss. I’m surprised by this since the Ogres are supposed to be one of the least competitive armies out there. I figure when we get into bigger games, they’ll start looking less and less threatening. I look forward to throwing down 300 points at the next go-around.