9th Age Tournament in Steyr

I participated in another 9th Age tournament in Steyr. I fielded the same army as on the last tournament:

– Vampire Count: Von Karnstein, Storm Caller, Level 2 Wizard (Death), Great Weapon, Dragon Mantle, Talisman of Supreme Shielding, Shielding Scroll, Potion of Swiftness
– Necromancer Lord: Level 4 Wizard (Fire), Unholy Tome
– Barrow King: Great Weapon, Battle Standard Bearer, Tullius Tooth
– Necromancer: Level 1 Wizard (Necromancy), Dispel Scroll
– 3xBanshee
– 31+30 Zombies: Musician, Standard bearer
– 40 Skeletons: Halberds, Champion, Musician, Standard bearer, Banner of Speed
– 2×5 Direwolves
– 2 Bat Swarm
– 6 Phantom Host
– Cadaver Wagon: Endless Horde, Bone Pyre
– 10 Wraiths
– Shrieking Horror

Round 1: Fabian „Kathal“ Gollmann (Warriors of the Dark Gods)
My third match against Fabian’s Warriors. I lost the roll for the first turn (+3) and immediatly realised, I might have made a major vanguard mistake: The Manticore Lord got the 10 for the charge on my Direwolfes and the overrun (8) in my Phantom Hosts.

I pin the general with Zombies. On my right flank, the Wraiths deal 5 damage to the first Elder Dragon Centaur, the Shrieking Horror insta-kills the other on the left flank and dies afterwards.

I start decimating the Warriors with my Banshees before they charge my Skeletons with the second Manticore in the front and the 1 HP Elder Dragon Centaur in the flank. In the first round of Combat my general kills the Manticore. I slowly bleed Skeletons but manage to kill the Centaur and break the Warriors.

Then the time was up and I get a very lucky 15:5.

Round 2: Dolce „und“ Gabana (Sylvan Elves)
Again the same list as in the last tournament. This time with the diagonal setup and the „touch down“ scenario. My opponent deploys all first, leaving me the option to go over the right flank. I decide to go for quick points, going with my banshees after the Maidens (incl. BSB on Stag), but one survived, opening a large gap in my defences again.

The BSB was able to charge my Zombies (with Wagon and Necros) and the Forest Prince could charge a Banshee and overrun into the same zombies on a 5. But I got lucky again, he just rolled the 4. But then my Wraiths weren’t allowed to march (rerollable 10) to kill him off. I still managed to reap him in the magic phase, but the ward saves keep the elf from dying. At least the horror inflicts two wounds.

Without the fighting elf, I can break the BSB and overrun into the Prince, killing him off with the Wagon impact hits. Also the Tree who made a supporting charge into the Zombies broke from combat. The pursuit move brings my Zombies in front of the Dryads

I can counter with my carrier and the other Zombies (in the flank), breaking the Dryads easily and killing the fleeing tree with the overrun pursuit move.

The rest of the game was filled with minor losses and me scoring the scenario. Again another very lucky 15:5 win.

Round 3: Philipp Merlin „Kokosnuss“ Jost (Dread Elves)
Another Manticore, lots of shooting, redirectors, a Cauldron and a unit of Executioners.

I kept my distance and wanted to score via Magic. Again a mistake in turn one, where riders could charge my Wraiths in the flank. Luckily the Manticore (magic attacks) wasn’t able to get the 8 in the following round, so I killed the riders. I killed another unit of riders on the left with my Banshees.

I tried to push with my Phantom Hosts against the Executioners, but wasn’t brave enough to charge. Even with a 2+ ward save, tons of attacks and multiple wounds aren’t fun. Instead I used Fire and Banshees to reduce the Elves.

I get one long distance charge with my skeletons to win the game, but fail miserably. Also the executioners fail a charge on the hosts. Then I make another mistake, letting the Cauldron kill a banshee and overrun in the bats, giving her a reform and a charge into my Wraiths next turn.

In my last turn I switch targets and try to kill off one Core unit (banner for scenario), but fail. The elves try to kill my Phantom Hosts, but my Ward saves keep me fully alive. 10:10.

I place 9th (out of 26), which is very ok considering my many mistakes. I’m still satisfied with my list.

9th Age Team Tournament in Klagenfurt

I participated in a Team Tournament in Klagenfurt, 6 Teams à 3 players. Since I am a bit frustrated with Vampires (being the same list all the time and feeling not up to par with other army books), I tried Sylvan Elves:

– Treefather Ancient (General), Oaken Crown, Tree Singing, Level 1 (Wilderness), Dispel Scroll
– Dryad Matriarch, Entwined Roots, Tree Singing, Level 1 (Wilderness)
– Chieftain, BSB, Pathfinder, Innate Defense (6+), Longbow, Great Weapon, Obsidian Nullstone
– Dryads, CMS, +1S
– 14Sylvan Sentinels, CMS, Flaming Standard, Scout, Hawthorn Points
– 11 Wild Huntsmen CMS,Gleaming Icon, Shields
– 1 Forest Eagle
– 2×10 Pathfinders, C

Round 1: Matthias „DrGonZo“ Lederhilger (Highborn Elves)
He played a Star Dragon (reroll sixes to wound on ranged), a second Lord (holy attacks on Lions), a mage with all signatures, stealing magic dice, Seaguard, White Lions, 5 Models light and heavy Cavalry each, 2 Eagles, skirmishing Bowmen. Scenario: Hold the Center.

I go all in first, set up my army in the center and wait, where my opponent deploys before setting up scouts. In round 1 and 2 I kill the skirmishers, light cav, an eagle and a few Sea Guard. I bait the sea guard with my Wild Riders.

Round 2 of my opponent: He places the Dragon in my Dryads (for a loooong while). He charges with the Sea guard. I have the higher initiative, more Attacks at better stats. Should be ok. He casts Initiative miasma with one die: 3. I take two dice: 1-1, crap! Sea guard deals 5 Lethal hits, killing all but 2 of my wild riders and hence break through.

In the next two rounds, I kill the Sea Guard (my opponent evacuates the characters). I shoot a bit at the Whit Lions, but don’t get points. The Dragon kills off the Drayds over time. He survives with 2 hitpoints. I have one more round of poison shooting, but don’t do a single wound. In his last round the heavy cavalry moves in scoring position, resulting in a 1:9.

Round 2: Thomas „Knochentrocken“ Haueisen (Undying Dynasties)
Large unit of chariots with a character, large unit of Necropoliton Guard with 2 characters, a few bowmen with a mage, a scorpion, two cascades and a catapult. We play the break through scenario.

The only thing I am a little afraid of are the cascades. So my Tree and my eagle stay well out of range. I have the shooting advantage, he litterally can’t reach my archers. So I kill of the large unit of undead bowmen quite fast and continue shooting on the chariots afterwards. Dryads advance.

Chariots and Scorpion charge them (Guards fail the 8) and I vaporate both. Then I get the reform in my round and charge with Drayds (then with wildform) into the front and Wild riders into the flank of the guard, killing 27 models before they attack. No bodyguard in the world can save the unit.

The rest is killing off the remaining units, where the mage survices, as well as my wild riders (with one wound). 10:0.

Round 3: Fabian „Kathal“ Gollmann (Warriors of the Dark Gods)
A large unit of pestilence Barbarians with BSB and Jarl, 3 units of brute wizards, 2 chariots a Shrine and „crap“. Hold the center scenario.

My first round is the same as always: Dryads into the forest in the center, Archers shoot around. In round 2 I get my wild riders in the far right flank.

The brute unit flees from the wild riders to the other flank, causing panik in a chariot there. I charge the other brute unit and kill it. Unfortunately the chariot behind didn’t die in my shooting phase and I didn’t roll the 11 to overrun into it. But since it only did one impact would and also the shrine didn’t do a lot of damage, I manage to come out as the winner after a few rounds of close combat (very luckily!!!).

The dryads get redirected a lot. I used the situation after the chariot fled to kill dogs and overrun into the barbarians. I kill off 20 and lose 13 dryads in return. I really didn’t think this through … (should have stayed in the forest to take their steadfast). But I got lucky again and kill off 17 more barabians in the round after the next (out of 19 attacks on 4+ without hatred …). The barbarians were dead and the characters fled (but fled far enough).

I made one wound too few shooting on a unit of brutes, so they too could claim scenario points, resulting in a 8:2.

Round 4: Paul „Paulizei“ Kohl (Saurean Ancients)
Slaann with +1 to cast, high magic, dice save, skink/kroxi unit with bsb, a few skinks, a few chars and 3 monsters. Center scenario again.

In round one I kill off a unit of skinks and in the second round I almost kill off the second one, leaving the slann quite „naked“. Unfortunately he had his hill and can cast through other models. My dryads fight better than all his units so I decide to rush.

I create a trap with my wild riders and pathfinders. The stegadons can charge the pathfinders and if I flee, they are open for a charge from the wild riders. Unfortunately I did a sloppy job and the skink chars were able to redirect me (although I measured them earlier …). Walls and a large field on this flank didn’t help in moving the wild riders either …

Still I had a solid position and would be able to charge with a full unit of drayds the turn after the next. Then came the magic phase. The slaann casted the boosted version of cataclysm and I wasn’t able to dispel. 9 dryads died. Still enough for me to charge. I just needed to dispel the cataclysm in my turn. Magic: 2-1, no channel, crap!

From this point on, I tried to run back. I didn’t do any significant damage in the shooting phase (high toughness, high armor and 5+ ward …). I tried to pin the skink/kroxis with my tree. He failed his 7 and got a stegadon (2D6+1 impact) on an 8 in return. That was my doom, 0:10.

Round 5: Kevin „Vladimir“ Waldkircher (Warriors of the Dark Gods)
Deamon Prince (fly, 1+), 2×2 Crushers, Warriors, Barbarians, upgraded Chariots, Dogs and an ancient chimera and 2 level 2 Fire. Break Through scenario.

There are two elements which are really tough for me: The Prince and the fire mages. Everything else, I can handle. In round 2 the chimera was dead and 40 shots on the prince (-3 armor) didn’t show any effect. On the other side, wild riders took a hard beating on fire lore (mostly the attribute …).

My opponent rushed with his prince and the crusers on the left. His BSB on deamonic mount charged the dryads. I charged the crushers on the left with my remaining 4 wild riders. I should be able to deal 3 wounds. Then I would at least stay, probably even break through. I just dealt 2 wounds. My riders died. The crusers decided to go for my bsb carrier, losing another 3 wounds on the stand and shoot and the last on the terrain.

My tree charged the deamon prince. It should take him 3-4 rounds to kill my tree. That means I get 3 crush attacks on 5+, that would kill him on 3+. In round 2 I get my crush hit, but he saves. I run away (stubborn 9) and there is nothing more to stop him. I lose the pathfinders to fire and also the scenario. I needed 2 more kills on the barbarians for half points and securing at least one tournament point. No.

Conclusio: I get disappointing 19 (out of 50) points. At least my teammates scored decently so we placed third. I need a lot more experience with the elves as well as a good overview about what the others can field. I’m looking forward to that!

The Dryad unit is a very hard hitting unit (core section!), I definitely consider overpowered. The rest of the army is fine I guess. And since also most other armies have overpowered elements, its ok (for those having the powerful tools). What I saw is, that Sylvan elves have a hard time dealing with High Toughness / high armour units. Strength 3 bows (even AP(3)) just aren’t up to the task.

 

9th Age – Absurdes Greifistan

Yesterday I participated in another small 9th Age Tournament. This time in Graz. My list was quite similar to the one I played in Steyr:

– Vampire Count: Blood Drake; Crimson Rage; Ogre Sword; Crystal Ball
– Vampire Count: Blood Drake; Shield; Avatar of Death; Obsidian Sword; Divine Icon; Dragon Mantle; Lucky Charm; Dark Charm
– Necromancer: Level 2 Necromancy; Dispel Scroll
– Necromancer: Level 2 Death; Unholy Tome
– Necromancer: Death; The Accursed Book
– 35+25 Zombies: M
– 40 Skeletons: Shields; CMS; Banner of Speed
– 4×5 Direwolves (2xC)
– 2x Vargbeast: Vanguard
– 2x Titanic Bat

Round 1: Paul „Paulizei“ Kohl (Saurian Ancients)
He played the skink/kroxi-death-star, Slaan with heavens and gimmicks, a mounted saurus lord, 2 units skink skirmishers, 2 skink heroes on foot, 2 on flying steed, 2 flying skink units, ancient stegadon and 2 razordons.

My plan as always: rush. The Vargbeasts came via both flanks. I learned fast that my opponent had really strong magic phases. He always had 9+ dice and used 2 dice for each spell. I had to dispel 2 S6 Missiles as well as to hit rerolls on skinks. So my right Vargbeast died quite fast. I had a semigood counter with my Titanic Bat. All she had to do was to get the 4+ to be allowed to scream (heavens hex …). Then the terradons would have to make a panic check on 4 and if failed the skinks behind had to test on a 6.

I was not allowed so scream, so the Bat got shot at and a skink hero overran into her. She managed to kill him but died eventually.

My forward march got slowed down due to scenario and forbidden march. My left Vargbeast „played“ a bit with the skink/kroxis, but since I cannot charge them, while they poison shoot me, I decided to turn back. I did the same with the second Bat and the Zombies.

Just the Carrier tried to get some points. I managed to snipe another flying skink hero and kill a unit of skirmishers with my magic missiles. My carrier got shot badly and luckily in the very last round I could charge the saurus lord with my general (AP(6), holy, reroll to hit/to wound), getting some more points and scoring a 7:13.

Round 2: Gerald „prachi“ Pracherstorfer (Beast Herds)
He fielded: Level 4 Wilderness and BSB in gors, 2 cygors, 2 large units longhorns, a few chariots and skirmishers, a unit ambushing gors. We had a large impassible terrain in the middle. Once he placed his first units and the cygors I decided to go all in for a +3 on the first turn.

Everything turned out as planned: I killed the chariot on the far left side and confronted both cygors with the Vargbeasts. My opponent tried one shooting round on a Titanic Bat, missed with all and in round 2 I killed both cygors and was about to score big in the game.

Longhorns overran into my Vargbeast and my carrier countered right back. I had one round to break through. Due to the ridiculous magic phases the beast herd can pull out, the Longhorns got distracting. At least they failed their hatred test. My crimson rage managed to kill only 3 and the other lord only 1 more. At least my lords survived.

But the next round both got chopped to peaces. I still managed to break the Longhorns and both Titanic Bats survived the loss of the general. I got a charge with the „naked“ carrier into the ambushing gors and with the help of a Vargbeast I managed to run from the board to safety.

The second Vargbeast got a charge into the carrier, killed the level 4 and crumbled to death. The game resulted in a 12:8. I should have stopped after killing the cygors. My army book has nothing against Longhorn-hordes and this ridiculous magic phase …

Round 3: Christian „Sperber“ Braun (Warriors of the Dark Gods)
Lord, BSB, Level 4 Change in Knights, frenzy warrios, 3 crushers, a shrine, a chariot and redirectors. A good matchup for me. My opponent saw that too and tried to deny the game.

I went for the chariot in round one with the bat. He didn’t die and I did a very sloppy job redirecting the shrine, so I lost the Bat (she did manage to kill the chariot in close combat though). The second bat took revenge and caught the shrine.

The Crushers overran to the far right and killed the small unit later, so I didn’t care about them the entire game (they would have been insta-evaporated by my crimson rage lord anyhow). Vargbeasts played a bit on the left flank.

Since the only spell I needed to dispel was the infernal gateway and my magic was quite harmless as well, almost nothing happened on that front. The bat started to scream at the knights, killing them off quite quickly (with some luck). I even tried to charge them in the flank (only the mage in contact), but died afterwards.

In the meantime I pinned the Warriors with a Vargbeast. A round later the second Vargbeast helped out and they killed off the entire unit. The Crushers turned around, trying to counter my skeletons. I simply turned around, turning back the thread. He managed to swift reform away from me, so I didn’t get those points in the end. With the help of the scenario (collecting tokens for VP), I got a 15:5.

Overall I scored 4th place (out of 10). One defeat, 2 wins, that’s quite ok. Though I feel a bit frustrated when I see the gimmicks other armies have. Very strong to ridiculous Units, insane magic phases with lots of powerful 1/2 dice spells and good shooting options. All I have are Vargbeasts, which are good of course but in the concept Vampires are quite weak I fear.

9th Age Tournament in Steyr

It took months in the making, but finally the community finished the first complete draft of the rules for the unofficial Warhammer Fantasy successor, called The 9th Age. And the first weekend after release I found myself participating in a tournament in Steyr (Austria).

My List:
– Vampire Count: Blood Drake; Crimson Rage; Beast-Bane Halberd; Strenght Potion; Dragonscale Helm; The Accursed Book
– Vampire Count: Blood Drake; Shield; Avatar of Death; Obsidian Sword; Divine Icon; Dragon Mantle; Lucky Charm; Dark Charm
– Necromancer: Level 2 Necromancy; Dispel Scroll
– Necromancer: Level 2 Necromancy; Unholy Tome
– 35 Zombies: MS
– 35 Skeletons: Spears; CMS; Banner of Speed
– 32 Skeletons: Shields, CMS; Banner of Cleansing Fire
– 2×5 Direwolves
– 2 Great Bats
– 2x Vargbeast: Vanguard
– 2x Titanic Bat

Round 1: Fabian „Kathal“ Gollmann (Warriors of the Dark Gods)
He fields (qualitatively): A Unit of Warriors with 3 Attacks (even supporting Attacks) with a BSB, ~10 Knights with a Lord (Hellsword) and Level 3 (Heaven), 8 Trolls, a Chariot and redirector units.

I did a sloppy vanguard move with my wolves, so the Marauder Horsemen could charge and overrun in my Titanic Bat. But in fact it was a good trade off. My Bat killed them easily without taking a wound.

The Knights decided to charge my carrier (I put my Lords in the flaming Skeletons, whereas the Necros stayed in the other Skeletons). His Lord challenged and I accepted with the Crimson Rage Lord (2++ against Flaming). I lost a lot of Skeletons but killed some Knights and put one Wound on the Lord. I counter-charged with the Titanic Bat, used my strength potion and wiped the unit. The Mage broke giving me an overrun into the Trolls.

Two survived my Attacks (flaming, multiple wounds (2), Crimson Rage!), one broke and ultimatively fled the battlefield.

In the meantime, one Vargbeast was charged by a Chariot, took no wounds and instantaneously killed the attacker. The other Vargbeast was able to charge the Warrors in the back. He got into a killing spree, killing off 16 Warriors over 3 rounds of close combat, unitl he finally died.

Unfortunately the Warrors got free in my opponents turn, giving them the opportunity to charge my Necros (they came closer to magically support the Vargbeast). The two Necros died, but were avenged by the rest of my army. Major victory (20:0) for the Vampires.

Round 2: Philipp Merlin „Kokosnuss“ Jost (Dwarven Holds)
His list (qualitatively): A large unit of musketeers, a smaller one with crossbows, a carrier of Forgeguard with Master Rune Smith; a lone Master Engineer; the dreaded Daemonseeker; 3 Steamcopters; 2 Steambomber; Anvil of Power; a Cannon; a Catapult and a Volley Cannon.

My initial reaction: Ok, Dwarfs stayed as they were, I stay in the back and get my 7-9 points. But since this was kind of a test tournament, I decided: just rush and see what happens. So I went all in quite fast to get the first turn. The Vargbeasts went into attack position, the rest went as far as possible. One Titanic Bat was in range for a scream on a copter but failed to get 3 out of 6 3+ rolls. So I got redirected and switched the carrier to not lose a round of marching. The Vargbeasts were hit really heavily. One died, the other one was „redirected“ by the Deamonseeker. At least my Bat survived a Cannon shot unharmed.

A round later, my second Vargbeast and my first Titanic bat died (at least she took a copter down first). My third move went really well. A complex and very unlucky flee move of a copter brought my carrier very close to the Dwarven army. Also I was able to heal 4 wounds on the second Titanic Bat, but she failed to do the 3 statistic wounds on the Deamonseeker who charged my wolves and overran into the side of my carrier.

My Titanic Bat died and the Dwarves were finally able to shoot at my carrier. Out of about 60 Models only 3 (plus the Vamps) made it into close combat. There I finally felt safe. What could a few Dwarves who hit on 6es do against the killing power of 2 Vampire Counts?

For two rounds I did ok, on the third round of combat I caused 3 wounds, whereas my Halberd-Count was killed by 6 attacks, hitting on 6es, wounding on 4+, and a resulting armour save of 5+. My General lost 2 wounds to crumbling and was killed in the following round. This ~1000 points difference changed the result from a medium defeat to 0:20.

Round 3: Christian „CrazyChris“ Skuza (Beast Herds)
His list (qualitatively): Minotaur Lord; Minotaur BSB; 3 Chariots, 2 Ambushing Giants, A large Unit of Longhorns with Level 4 Nature, a large unit of Minotaurs, and a few redirectors.

The list has nothing against my Titanic Bats, cannot deal with Vargbeasts and has a strong weakness against my Halberd-Vamp. Only the Giants in my back were nasty. I decided to go for it.

I redirected poorly so that my Bat could be charged by the Lord Minotaur. He lost 2 wounds against my scream, killed the first bat and was killed afterwards by my second bat.

On my opponents third turn, he decided to charge my carrier (currently with rerolls to hit) with his Minotaurs. My Halberd-Lord rolled really badly and „only“ killed 4 Minotaurs and took 2 wounds (6es to hit …) , my General caused 3 wounds on the BSB and got 2 wounds back. Skeletons killed one more Minotaur, before they ran and weren’t caught (but fled from the field next round).

I got a reform before my round and decided to go all in into the Longhorns, with my carrier (2 Vamps with one Hitpoint left …),  a Vargbeast in the back and a Titanic Bat in the flank. I could heal one wound on my General (saving her life!), the other Vamp died. The Beasts fled but weren’t caught by any of my three units (two of them had swiftstride). They beasts rallied and were charged by my Vargbeast. They killed him, bit finally fled from the field after a failed panic test. Giants killed the second Bat and a unit of Skeletons. I got some more redirectors, resulting in a major victory for me (18:2)

I made the 3rd place (out of 12), which was very ok and even got my a price. The tournament was fun and I really like the new approach to Warhammer, though there are still a lot of things out of balance.