Written by Tim Ray (free copy)
My US Grand Tournament Trip or The Skaven Inherit America, as it would involve reading the
minds of the judges!
And no player can know what passes through the mind of a GW staffer. That way lies madness!
For those who don’t know, the grand tournament entries (US and UK) are judged in five
categories:
Army composition, painting skill, game knowledge, battles fought, and sportsmanship.
The first three categories are worth 0-30 points,
battles are worth 25-100 points and sportsmanship is assigned to you by your opponents,
1-4 points per game, for a total of 4-20 points.
I finally narrowed it down to three army designs for the Skaven:
One army was built around a Verminlord.
One was built around a huge unit of clanrats and the Screaming Bell and a gray seer.
The third army was built around a theme: A fast Skaven raiding force.
No war machines, plenty of infantry with powerful characters leading the blocks of troops and several rat swarms. It included a unit each of slaves, clanrats and plague monks (with the dreaded plague censer bearers in attendance), as well as a small unit of gutter runners and three rat swarms.
I played each of the armies several times against the local clubs around Albuquerque. I told my opponents to build armies specifically designed to kill Skaven, and gave them a copy of the list I would use for the battle, figuring that during the last games of the tournament, my opponents would have advance warning about the army I had. I won a few and lost a few, and determined several things:
1) The screaming bell is quite slow, and can really cramp your style in a small battle, where the unit dragging it is flanked. The 200 points for the bell, on top of the 340 for the Gray Seer meant not enough regiments or supporting characters. I decided against this army, though the Bell is one of my best painted models.
2) The Verminlord is quite vulnerable to mobile character set up to kill big things. A Vampire with the Carstein Ring and the spell Hand of Dust convinced me. Losing six VP in one pop was just a bit too scary.
3) Warpfire throwers are too undependable. I took one in every army up to the final tournament force, and they blew up every game. Call me superstitious, but I finally deleted it from the list.
4) The Skaven army standard bearer is terribly vulnerable to being singled out and killed, and is an easy VP for the enemy.
5) The guys in my club are the best! Thanks to all the guys at Gamesquest and Starbase 10 in Albuquerque! So that left me with the third army, detailed below. It includes the backstory I wrote to explain who and what made up the force, as well as a detailed breakdown by points:
THE RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE
CHARACTERS
Warlord General Hackstrong (90)
with Crown of Command (50), Flail of Skulls (30), Crimson Armor of Dargan (25), pistol (2),
hand weapon and halberd (2)
Hackstrong is a typical Warlord Clan lord: predatory, cunning, cowardly unless he’s hungry,
ruthless and (right now) far from home. He is journeying into the Human lands with his warband
to plunder and steal. He has already collected several magic trinkets (he kept the best armor
for himself), and has managed to attract a pair of warlocks to his cause. His small raiding
force is built for the hit-and-fade; he has no war machines to slow down the march, and a small
unit of scouts to look for ripe villages and hamlets to plunder. He can reduce and desecrate a
village in record time, then disperse his troops and fade into the landscape. His main problem
so far has been coaxing the plague censer bearers away from fights they can’t win.
90+50+30+25+2+2=199 Points
Chieftain Gutterthorn (59)
with Skavenbrew (50), Armor of Fortune (15), hand weapon, pistol (2) and halberd (2)
Gutterthorn is Hackstrong’s right hand thug. As such, he wouldn’t hesitate to grease the
warlord and take over. Hackstrong just hasn’t shown enough weakness yet. He lost a paw the last
time he challenged Hackstrong. In the interim, Gutterthorn doles out the Skavenbrew to the
clanrats and pretends fawning loyalty to the warlord. At least he got a suit of magic armor out
of the deal. His latest (small) victory was stealing Festerpaw’s warplock pistol. Gutterthorn is
a mutant, possessed of a tail, complete with stinger. It doesn’t afford him any extra attacks
(it takes all his concentration to use it) but it hits very hard, and counts as a halberd
(+1 strength, no shield allowed)
59+50+15+2+2=128 Points
Warlock Master Hockripper (190)
with Warpstone Charm (10), Book of Ashur (50), Skull Staff (35), hand weapon and pistol (2)
Hockripper is at the top of the food chain amongst the rank and file of Clan Skyre. He is a
warlock master, and has managed to acquire one of the volumes of the Book of Ashur. He has
joined with Hackstrong for first pick of wizard’s magic items taken on the raids and to escape
the jealous attentions of his enemies.
190+10+50+35+2=287 Points
Festerpaw, Warlock Champion (118)
with Power Familiar (30), Stormdaemon (25), hand weapon and add. hand weapon (1)
Festerpaw is Hockripper’s protege and has been chosen to bear an experimental weapon based on
Ikit Claw’s famous Stormdaemon. Hockripper has shown him how to summon and control the smaller
familiars and warp entities. Festerpaw himself serves as a sort of super familiar for
Hockripper, feeding him sorcerous power during battles and sneaking looks at the Book of Ashur
whenever he can. Festerpaw usually runs with the plague monks, since he is studying the Banner
of Sorcery they carry. He is also afraid of Gutterthorn, who stole his pistol.
118+30+25+1=174 Points
Brother Ebolus, Plague Priest (73)
with Weeping Blade (50), Potion of Strength (10), hand weapon and heavy armor (3)
It is a commonly held view among the Clan Pestilens that a regular clanrat like Hackstrong could
barely infect himself with an interesting disease, let alone a whole human village. The good b
rother and his flock were sent along with Hackstrong to spread disease in his army’s wake, to
slow down pursuit and generally weaken the opposition. Ebolus carries a sword which is fouled
with a pestilence of his own devising. Every victim which dies under his blade spreads the holy
plague further.
73+50+10+3=136 Points
Longscrape, Clanrat Champion (27)
with Black Gem of Gnar (25), hand weapon, light armor (2), shield (1) and spear (1)
Longscrape is actually not from Hackstrong’s clan at all, but a very strong and stupid slave.
The general gave him the Black Gem and taught him how to work it and when. The erstwhile slave
is so entranced with the stone that he hardly sleeps, but sits up late into the night, staring
into its ebon depths and rocking back and forth, back and forth.
27+25+2+1+1=56 Points
Subtotal: 980 Points
REGIMENTS
35 Hackstrong’s Own Clan Rats (35x6=210)
with light armor, shields, hand weapons, spears (17.5), musician (6.5) and unit standard (6.5)
Clanrats from Hackstrong’s clan, they hungrily follow their lord to war. They carry spears
so the back ranks can attack, and shields plundered from their victims. They have followed
Hackstrong into many fights, and thus are as loyal as Clanrats can be. Thus, they will scream
and run off as soon as they lose the first battle...
210+17.5+6.5+6.5=240.5 Points
2 Poisoned Wind Globadiers with hand weapons and poisoned wind globes
All globadiers come from Clan Skryre, but they are so much a fixture of the army they serve
that hardly anyone notices anymore. They remain somewhat aloof from the main body of the army, b
ecause of the volatile poison they carry. Some Skaven whisper that the masks they wear do not
filter the air, but rather carry warpstone vapor into their lungs to invigorate them. This pair
was brought by Hockripper when he went on walkabout from Skyre.
20+20=40 Points
2 Clan Eshin Assassins (Lefty and Blind Poe) with light armor and weeping blades
Almost all warlord clan raiding parties are accompanied by assassins from Clan Eshin. They
provide punch for the clanrat regiments, and keep a beady red eye on the warlord. You never
know when the order to slit his throat might come down. Poe and Lefty make sure Hackstrong
stays in line.
30+30=60 Points
22 Ebolite Sect Plague Monks (22x6=132)
with add. hand weapons (22), musician (7) and Banner of Sorcery (7+25=32)
Brother Ebolus has been fortunate enough to develop his own strain of the deadly Ebolic Fever.
These brave (well, crazed) monks are all carriers of the disease. They are his flock and sing
his praises along with those of the Horned one and great Nurgle.
They carry the Banner of Sorcery
132+22+7+32=193 Points
11 Ebolite Plague Censer Bearers with plague censers and hand weapons
The Plague Censer Bearers have reached the next higher plane of ecstatic infection.
11x15=165 Points
26 Clan Knavekiller Skavenslaves (26x2.5=65)
with hand weapons, spears (26x0.5=13) and unit standard (3)
Knavekiller was once a strong warlord clan, preying on the eastern fringes of the Empire. Now,
these pitiful remnants serve Hackstrong as slave troops.
65+13+3=81 Points
5 Clan Eshin Gutter Runners (5x12=60)
with L. armor (5x2=10), nets (5), throwing stars (5), slings (5) and add. hand weapons (5)
The Gutter Runners are Hackstrong’s eyes and ears on his raids. Often the first (and last)
thing village guards see is the dull flash of a poisoned blade.
60+10+5+5+5+5=90 Points
Subtotal: 869.5 Points
MONSTERS
3 Rat Swarms with many gnashing teeth (no hand weapons)
The rats follow their big brothers into battle, cleaning up scraps that the regiments leave
behind. Bretonnian bowmen, goblins (all flavors), skinks and Empire state troops make great
scraps...
3x50=150 Points
TOTAL: 1999.5 Points
1 Warlord General, 1 Warlock Master, 1 Warlock Champion, 1 Chieftain, 1 Plague Priest,
69 Skaven, 22 Plague Monks, 11 Plague Censer Bearers, 2 Assassins, 2 Globadiers, 3 Rat Swarms
Percentages:
Characters 980 Points 49.0%
Regiments 869.5 Points 43.5%
War Machines 0 Points 0.0%
Monsters 150 Points 7.5%
Victory Points:
1 General Hackstrong 1 VP
1 Chieftain Gutterthorn 1 VP
1 Warlock Master Hockripper 2 VP
1 Warlock Champion Festerpaw 1 VP
1 Brother Ebolus 1 VP
35 Hackstrong’s Clanrats with Longscrape, 2 x Globadiers and 2 x Assassins 3 VP
22 Ebolite Plague Monks 1 VP
11 Ebolite Plague Censer Bearers 1 VP
26 Knavekiller Skavenslaves 1 VP
2 Gutter Runners 1 VP
3 Rat Swarms 1 VP
TOTAL: 14 VP
With my army decided, I set about touching up the paint which had flaked over the last several years (I’ve been collecting Skaven since 1990) and doing up the bases. I converted 20+ models with clubs to spearmen and bought more spears, so that I’d have the right number in the army. I believe in spears; at least the back ranks get to strike back, unless the enemy is really dangerous and kills the front two ranks.
The tactics I planned were simple: I would try to destroy every enemy unit on the table to win
by the largest margin possible. I would have to, in order win the Tournament, since I wasn’t
going to win on the painting! Not that it was bad, but the army had been painted over seven
years! My style is real different than it was seven years ago (better I hope!).
Anyway, If I couldn’t defeat the enemy in a standup fight, I’d stand off and soften them up
with spells and try for a late game (turn 4) charge. With my large number of units, I would
probably have to move second, but I would have the last turn of the game. That would mean any
unit I broke on my last turn would have no way to rally before the end of the game, barring
powerful magic.
Speaking of magic, I planned to take either High Magic (against Undead or a Daemon heavy Chaos
force) or Tzeentch (trying for Bolt of Change, the character killer spell) or even more Skaven
magic. Even with all four power 3 spells gone, and losing madness (since I had no Grey Seer, I
couldn’t use it) the Skaven deck is pretty good. As it turned out, I took High Magic every game.
I like a magically offensive force, and the Skaven with their cheap characters excel at
offensive magic.
I hoped the Rat swarms and slaves could slow down and tie up any really tough enemies, and the
Gutter Runners can be useful as a distraction If nothing else. They can get into the darndest
places. Against a numerically inferior force, I hoped to deploy heavily to one flank, forcing my
enemy to do the same, and leaving the other side free for the slaves to deploy unmolested. If
they could put enough inches between them and the enemy, the enemy would never be able to kill
them and they could claim (or contest) a board section. The Clanrats were two things: Bait and
killer all in one. They had a huge concentration of points (hero, general, champion, three
victory point regiment) so the enemy would basically have to kill them to win by many points.
They would serve to lure him in while the Plague Censer Bearers and the warlocks killed him.
So with my army packed and a plan in hand, I went to Baltimore.
First Impressions:
After registration, all the 40K and fantasy players mustered in a great room with fully
50 tables in it. The playing surface was six feet wide by four feet wide, with a one foot
sideboard on each side. All the terrain possible for each table was on one sideboard. That
terrain consisted of two or three buildings, several hills and several woods. Terrain was
deployed per the warhammer rules; one player set a piece, the other set a piece (anywhere on
the table at all) and then either player could stop placing. The other player then had the
option to place one more piece, and terrain was done. Wood elves could then place another
woods, if they wanted to.
I want to describe the highlights of the battles I fought. At the GT, how many points you made for the battle was computed according to your margin of victory. It worked like this: Half the amount a player won by (winner’s points minus loser’s divided by two) +10 was the victor’s score. The loser made 20 minus the victor’s score. The judges put a cap of 20 points on the score, so the highest possible win was 20-0. Ties yielded (I think) half your score +5 points. The points spread I give at the end of each report is the final, recorded score.
BATTLES
Session 1: Chaos (Khorne)
My first opponent was a Chaos player who fielded an entirely Khornate force.
He had a chariot with his general on it, pulled by two Juggernoughts.
This centerpiece was accompanied by
5 knights,
8 Bloodletters,
5 Fleshhounds,
5 harpies,
18 Beastmen and
a Beastman hero.
A force with real killing power, as I suspected the General was loaded for bear.
Fortunately, I brought rats.
I began by deploying my force far left. He took the bait and I was able to deploy the slaves
far right to take that side of the table and keep them away from that chariot.
I feared the chariot. If he got to charge, he would probably do at least 16 wounds to whatever
block he hit.
He got the first turn
and advanced with his flesh hounds in front of his bloodletters and beastmen and
his knights against the left board edge.
He flew the harpies within charge range of the rat swarms,
and his general flew (with a chaos gift!) 24 inches onto my flank.
I could see him with exactly two plague censer bearers, so they had to attempt a charge.
The plague monks maneuvered to charge the flesh hounds next turn (they were around the corner
of a wood) and
the clanrat block marched 10" and out of harms way. I had rolled a "6" for the Skavenbrew, and
hoped to delude my opponent by not moving them the full 20" they were capable of.
The next turn was big.
I charged his general with the plague censer bearers
and he moved the fleshhounds around the woods and within sight (and charge range) of the plague
monks.
The Bloodletters moved up in support, hoping to countercharge after the hounds died.
The harpies and rats continued to chew on each other, as the Chaos knights moved up behind
them,thinking the harpies would break.
My clanrats lit the burners and marched 20" onto the far flank of the Beastmen, surprising my
opponent quite a bit!
The plague censer bearers failed to wound the general, but did wound a Jugger.
I had placed Fiery Convocation on him on the first turn, and
this turn one of the Juggers died, and the spell was dispelled (Amulet of Fire).
I tried Banishment and killed one or two Bloodletters.
Next turn,
I charged the flesh hounds with the plague monks,
charged the now turned beastmen with the clanrats
and continued to hold the harpies with my rats.
I broke the flesh hounds and persued into the Bloodletters.
The clanrats held the Beastmen, who had the Banner of Defiance
(I think; they had a magic banner).
The General killed the last of the PCBs.
I raised fiery convocation on the Knights, who panicked and ran!
After that, the plague monks broke the Bloodletters and persued into the flank of the beastmen,
who were still engaged to the front with the clanrats! Under that pressure, the beastmen broke
and were chased down.
The Chaos player then did a brave thing. He moved his general close to the clanrats and gave
him a pile of gifts.
The general turned into a Chaos spawn. He then tried to move him into contact with the clanrats,
even though he wasn’t pointed at them. I pointed out that on their first move, spawn move
straight ahead, and he ended up in a wood.
I then cast Fiery Convocation on him and killed him in the magic phase.
The knights were killed as they ran
and at the end of the game, the only piece left on the table was the abandoned Chaos chariot
with a single Jugger.
Final score: 20-0.
Session 2: High Elves
Elated at defeating Chaos, I wandered the hall briefly, picking up news. I heard that some
undead army had pulled off a 26-0 win! And I thought I was doing good!
Session two saw me fighting High Elves.
The host of the High Elves was spread rather thin. There were (if I remember)
a General leading a small unit of Silver Helms with a magic standard and a champion (IIRC),
a block of Swordmasters with a mid-level mage in it,
a chariot with a hero driving,
and three RBTs perched on a hill, firing over a wood.
I don’t remember much about this battle; for example, there may have been
a block of Elven archers I forgot.
In any case, on to the highlights:
The Silver Helms and chariot deployed far left and skated down the table edge.
That forced me to turn the plague monks and PCBs to the left to get ready for the charge.
The clanrats moved towards (and eventually charged) the swordmasters.
The gutter runners (who showed poorly against Harpies in the first game) stepped to the edge of
the woods they were in and threw stars at the chariot. They redeemed themselves by killing both
horses!
The rat swarms moved in on the chariot, and charged it on turn two, along with the gutter
runners.
The silver helms were tied up with the PCBs
and the swordmasters were hit with Fiery Convocation for a couple of magic phases.
After the chariot was destroyed, the rat swarms went on to charge into the RBT battery, which
had been firing steadily on the plague monks.
The silver helms and the general eventually fell to a combination of warp lightning and
PCBs.
The slaves were left unmolested all game, taking a table section on the far right flank just as
they had in the first game.
The only Elf left on the board was the mage from the swordmaster unit.
After the game, my opponent was gracious enough to go with me to the judges and report that we
had miscounted the VP after we had turned in the score sheet. I had forgotten to count the RBTs
as destroyed, and because of the battery rules, they were worth 1 VP each.
Final score: 20-0
Session 3: Skaven
Skaven civil war. I had never fought another Skaven in a tournament situation, so I went into
the last battle of the first day with some trepidation. Of the 48 contenders at the tournament,
I think nine fielded Skaven armies. I had hoped to avoid meeting any of them, but as fate would
have it, I had to fight one of them.
I knew from previous rounds that I fielded a very different army from my opponent. He had both
a doomwheel and a Verminlord in his army. He also had some kind of formidable plague monk unit
which had done considerable killing. He had no rat swarms, but did field a pack of four
(maybe three?) rat ogres.
We placed three pieces of terrain (all woods, as I recall) which broke up the center of the
table pretty well, set up troops, and went to war.
The setup was predictable, save that he committed his
rat ogres against my slaves on the extreme left flank,
while his clanrat block, Verminlord, plague monks and plague censers held the center.
The doomwheel was deployed far right, opposite my rat swarms.
I can’t for the life of me remember where the gutter runners were this battle, so I think I got
them killed early on; I don’t remember them playing any part in the festivities.
Some highlights:
The rat ogres maneuvered against and charged the slaves, who made their fear check despite
being over 12" from the general. The rat ogres then proceeded to kill two slaves, who hit back
and actually wounded one of the brutes! The rank and standard caused the rat ogres to take a
break test at -3 which they failed. The slaves then persued and destroyed them. That was the
second best thing the slaves did at the tournament!
The doomwheel moved 15" on it’s first move into my side of the board.
I then charged it with the rat swarm to keep it occupied. It spent the whole game killing those
swarms, while they in turn chewed it down to 1D6" movement. They failed to kill the driver, and
eventually died holding the thing in place.
My level 2 warlock killed it on the last turn using Crack’s Call.
I found out what was in the opposing plague monk regiment: A plague priest and a plague monk
champion with some combat boosting items! That meant that across his 80mm frontage, he had 18
attacks! He also got the charge on my own plague monks and began to carve them up. He killed my
plague priest in short order, and almost killed the regiment by the end of the game.
Have to try that sometime. With the right magic items, it’s a real mincing machine against low
toughness troops.
The plague censer bearers charged the Verminlord early on and died trying to hurt him. They did
tie him up for a turn, allowing the clanrat block to get into range to charge him. I had rolled
frenzy for the Skavenbrew, and hoped my general could kill the beast. However, in this game I
learned something about challenges: You can’t participate in a challenge with a character who
is not fighting an enemy model. The only character I had in contact with the Verminlord was my
hero. The black gem was out of range (on the other corner of the unit), and so was the general!
So the chieftain stepped (or was goaded...) into the breach. He died, but only just, taking his
two wounds exactly, thanks to Armor of Fortune. My ranks and standard forced the Verminlord to
take a break test at -2, which he failed!
During the magic phase, the warlock used Skitterleap to run him down. That was the turning
point, and worth 6 VP.
With the rat ogres down, the doomwheel tied up and the Verminlord off to parts unknown, things
were looking bad for the enemy. I ended up winning by (I think) 15 points.
Final score: 18-2
With that, Saturday drew to a close, and we all retired to the bar for the infamous pub quiz, which was actually quite hard! Do you remember the name of the father of dragons? How about Mephiston’s original name? Great fun. I went to sleep feeling pretty good. I was undefeated, and at the top of the heap score-wise. So with sentinels set for the night and all fires banked, I went to sleep and dreamed of rat hordes overunning the world...
Session 4: Bretonnian
I fought the fourth round against Bill Edwards’ Bretonnian army. I had met Bill the night
before at the pub quiz, and knew from his attitude that he would be a competitive player. I was
not disappointed. He brought a finely tuned army to the table. It consisted of (as far as I can
remember) of
a unit of archers about 15 strong,
a unit of ten or so Knights Errant,
a unit of Grail Knights heavily supported by characters (hero, champion, level 2 wizard with
the Book of Ashur; he took necromancy),
a unit of mounted squires (great conversions)
and last but not least, his army general mounted on a hippogriff
(they are all the rage amongst the Bretonnian blue-bloods, I understand).
He may have had another knight unit, but I forget.
Bill used the most well thought out deployment I had seen in the tournament. I placed a woods
on his side of the table in the center, hoping to place my gutter runners in it. Bill placed a
small building against his board edge behind the woods.
During setup, he placed his archers in that building in skirmish formation. By doing that,
he could claim to occupy two board sections, or at least contest them, and I had no clear way
to attack them.
He then put the grail knights and the knights errant to the left of center
and put the mounted squires in skirmish formation between them.
The general and his mount roosted behind the woods on his side of the table.
I made a very conventional deployment with the plague monks and PCBs on the left
and the rat swarms on the right,
with the clanrats in the center.
I planned to hold him up as much as possible to forestall that awful Bretonnian charge for as
long as possible.
The gutter runners did go into the wood in front of the archers, but remained there most of the
game, since exposing themselves to the archers would have meant death.
Some highlights:
The PCBs charged and destroyed the squires.
They broke themselves against the rock of the Grail Knights, but not before they killed the
unit champion.
I think Bill wanted me to charge the squires, but was unprepared when they died.
I also had Glamour of Teclis up on the squire unit, so they were loath to move, since they have
fairly low Ld.
As I continued to pour spells and as much nastiness as I could into the Grail knights, I
discovered that the wedge was really only four knights led by a champion; the rest was a wizard
and two heroes! When the unit was down to the last knight, Bill shrewdly scattered them.
The knight went into the center of a woods close to my board edge,
and the rest of it retreated to help the knights errant with the rat swarms. They killed the
swarms quite easily, close to the end of the game.
The general had Fiery Convocation raised on him and took some damage from that.
He landed behind the clanrats, who had to turn to face him. The hero, warlock and general all
whipped out pistols and fired! They only caused one wound, but it was amusing. The general
then charged and killed my level two warlock, giving Bill another VP. Then his luck just
ran out. I had Fiery Convocation up, and during Bill’s magic phase, I rolled 11 hits. The
general and his mount burned down to ash. Most models made their panic tests, but that was
about 4 VP.
During my turn, I marched within 24" of the last remaining Grail Knight and cast Fiery
Convocation on him. It was the last magic phase of the game. I caused four wounds, I think.
Then I found out he was carrying the Standard of Shielding. With a 1+ save, -1 for a S4 hit,
Bill had to roll his saves at 2+ to keep the model alive. He rolled a 1, and the last Grail
Knight died, giving up more VP and removing the last enemy model from that board section.
After Bill and I totaled it up, we figured that I scored a total of 8 VP in the last two magic
phases, including territory. Quite a reversal of fortune, but that’s Warhammer! No matter how
well it seems to be going, it can turn at the last minute.
Final score: 13-7
I was exhausted after that game, so I went to eat lunch and await the posting of the round
four scores. Those scores would include the painting and army composition marks, and I really
didn’t know what to expect. I had seen some really spectacularly painted armies, but I had
seen some which were no better than mine. I knew I would not get a really high score in
composition, from the discussions I had had with people earlier in the weekend. I had a strong
army concept though, and a good story behind why the rats were the way they were. So there was
nothing to do but wait.
In the event, I got an 18 of 30 for painting (a surprise; better than average) and a dead
average 15 for army composition, which was not a surprise. I made a 28 on the game rules test,
missing two. I’ll never forget what you can and can’t do while flying high again! I scored low
for sportsmanship, but I couldn’t really complain. I had played some very spirited games, and
crushed my opposition for the most part. Different styles of play from different parts of the
country are bound to clash, and sometimes they did for me. All I can really say about that was
that at the end of the day, we could all still go to the bar together and have a good time!
No hard feelings from my end, and I hope it’s the same for the guys I played.
Session 5: Undead
The last session of the tournament, I fought Ron Spitzer’s Undead. I knew Ron from years
before, and from competition in another game system. He’s a superb tactician who was crippled
by bad luck in our game.
I considered bringing an Undead army to the grand tournament, but decided against it because
they are such an all or nothing army. They tend to lose big or win big. The Skaven can be that
way, but can be made more resilient. If the Undead general dies, that’s all she wrote. I know
from first hand experience how hard it can be to keep one’s general alive in a normal army.
When your opponent knows that your general is the way to make your whole army disintegrate,
it’s almost impossible to keep him around. You can take a vampire lord with the Carstein Ring,
but that cripples the spellcasting power the Undead need to be competitive.
In any case, Ron put together a fairly dangerous army. His army included
two chariots,
a unit of skeletons with heavy armor and shield led by a wight champion,
a unit of skeleton horse with a mounted wraith and a vampire count leading it,
and a single wraith as a regiment.
There was also another skeleton regiment which fulfilled the same mission as my slave. They
held table quarters and gave Ron another maneuver element.
His general (a Liche) was in the heavily armored skeleton unit.
SETUP:
Ron began by deploying two woods on his side of the table with a 5" gap between them. There
was another woods on the table, but it played little part in the battle.
He deployed most of his army behind the woods,
with his horseman unit behind the trees in the center.
His heavy skeleton unit was poised to jump into the gap between the woods to guard against
flanking attacks.
His chariots were deployed wide right in an obvious flanking deployment.
I set up the same as always,
but this time I put the gutter runners in the open on the far right flank, in the open, to slow
down the chariots.
The slaves were also deployed right,
the clanrats in the center and
the PCBs and plague monks on the left.
The rat swarms were close to the slaves on the right.
We began the battle.
I had rolled six for the banner of sorcery, and so had Ron!
I had frenzy from the Skavenbrew and a single piece of warpstone.
I can’t remember who had the first turn, but on his turn,
Ron’s horsemen and vampire ghosted into the woods in the center, just peeping out the
other side.
His chariots clattered into position on the right flank
and his heavy skeleton unit moved in to the gap between the woods, flanked by the
lone wraith.
His other skeleton unit hung back and moved slowly right.
I moved the gutter runners to intercept the chariots
and the plague monks and PCBs moved at the double towards the Undead general.
The clanrats moved forwards slightly, but were cautious of being charged by the
skeleton horse.
The slaves escorted the clanrats
and the rat swarms moved to countercharge the chariots after the gutter runners died.
Ron’s first magic phase was an eye opener. His Liche had the Book of Secrets.
He cast Gaze of Nagash, Summon Skeletons (I think he planned to add to the horse unit in the
woods) and something else, all of which I dispelled. Then he tried to cast two more spells
(Gaze and Summon again) again using the book! As I recall, I dispelled those as well, using
power cards to do it (high magic is great). Ron rolled high for the book (a 3 and a 5?) and
looked worried as he reduced his general’s stats.
My first magic phase saw the demise of the wraith via warp lightning from Storm Daemon, and
little else, though Ron did destroy one of my spells (Banishment I think).
I raised Deadlock and Coruscation of Finreir and ran out of power, as I had used so much
soaking up Ron’s spells.
I also decided something about anti-Undead magic tactics:
I never augmented a dispel. I would far rather take the chance and roll at 4+ and have
something left for the next spell than put everything into dispelling one spell and have it
get through anyway.
The reason is that the Undead wizards can recast their spells. The moment you can’t threaten a
dispel, the badness will come out of the boneyard, and your army will suffer. It meant making
some hard choices (do I really want Gaze of Nagash to go off on the plague censer bearers?) but
it paid off. It also didn’t hurt to have real good luck. I think I rolled something like eight
or nine dispels at 4+ and missed only one.
The next couple of turns were decisive, mostly in the magic phases.
There was a humorous event though. The gutter runners got charged by the chariots. They stood
and fired with throwing stars, after making their fear test. One chariot lost a horse and
couldn’t complete the charge, but the remaining chariot destroyed the gutter runners,
as planned.
The turn after,
the rat swarms charged one chariot and the slaves hit the other, and destroyed both.
The magic phases were bad for Ron.
He kept using the book of secrets and kept rolling high.
I managed to get Fiery Convocation (I think) and Warp Lightning through onto the horsemen,
so that by the time Ron decided to charge, they were down to the vampire, the standard bearer
and the wraith.
The general’s unit got hit by the PCBs and wiped out.
By the time the PCBs charged, the liche was down to 1 in all stats save toughness and wounds,
I think. His leadership might have been higher, but not by much. The champion in the unit used
the black gem to stop one of the PCBs, but with the general dead, the other skeleton unit
disintegrated.
The vampire held his unit together and charged the slaves in the flank.
Unfortunately, the unit was not engaged from the front, and the vampire only killed one or two
slaves. They hit back and actually managed to wound the last skeleton! They got their rank
bonus (though the judge present ruled they would not get the bonus for their standard; he also
ruled that they did not get their second rank of spear attacks) and it was enough to force the
vampire to take a break test which he failed. The wraith and vampire were broken at the end of
the game, and that was it.
Final score: 18-2
So that was the conclusion of the games from the tournament. I learned alot about keeping a good gaming attitude, and played five really challenging games. I got to talk to people I had only heard on the phone or read about. Jervis was great! He was unfailingly cordial, even in the face of somewhat passionate gamers. As a veteran of many conventions, I have to say this one went off with very few hitches. It was the smoothest event I have ever attended in years. After a couple of hours to collect our wits, we all went to the awards ceremony and the awards were handed out. And with much shaking of hands, and promises to be back next year, the first ever US Grand Tournament drew to a close. I’m glad to be the overall champion, but also recognize that I was very lucky. Armed with increased knowledge about how they judge army composition, I’ll probably build less of a sledgehammer army next year and go for a little more finesse. Or maybe not.
Postmortem
The army I won with won mostly in the magic phases. I think the Skaven are ideally suited to
an offensive magical strategy, and I was as offensive as possible. If I were to have one
regret, it would have been taking High Magic in every game. In the future, I shall use it
against Undead and Chaos, but I think I’ll stick to good old Skaven spells for the rest.
Otherwise it feels like having the High Elves looking over your shoulder all the time.
Anyway, the rest of the army did really well, with most units performing above themselves.
The rat swarms, slaves and gutter runners all did really well.
The PCBs were a let down, perhaps because most of the folks I played were gunning for them from
the start. When they reached their target in large numbers, that target died, so I can’t
complain too much.
Before the GT, I had never run my low level warlock outside a regiment, but it proved to be
worth it to do so. His primary weapon was Storm Daemon, and it needs LOS. Pinning him down in a
regiment is too restrictive, and the targeting rules kept him safe for the most part. He even
got to hamstring a Verminlord! If I could make any changes, I’d probably try to squeeze in a
champion for the Plague Monks, or expand the Gutter Runner unit.
The next thing I have to look forward to is Games Day, and playing the Canadian champ, whoever
that turns out to be. All I have to say is look out! The Skaven are coming, and they have yet
to be defeated.