So on July 14th I attended Invasion Kenosha Warhammer Fantasy Battles Tournament in Salem, Wisconsin.
Co-Host Michael and I, along with our wives drove to Madison where we hooked up with fellow player and Wisco Dice co-host Ben Cone who drove us and 1 other player to Salem for the tourney. I was playing Vampire Counts
Round 1 – Demons of Chaos - Andrew G.
He was running a block of Pink Horrors, a block of Daemonnettes with an Alluress, 2 units of Flesh Hounds, a unit of Bloodcrushers and a beefy general.
It was a bad first table for me as it was diagonal deployment across the board which allowed us to both deploy right in each others faces, thus negating the Vanguard ability of half my forces and reducing their usefulness as pylons.
Round 1
He won initiative and began the game with his Daemonettes and Flesh Hounds charging my Direwolves and Skeletons. Unsurprisingly, my 2 blocks of wolves and block of skeletons died quite handily but that’s why they were there. He was just as held up by the terrain as I was so he just positioned the rest of his troops.
On my turn, I repositioned a couple units, including my Black Knights, ran my Hexwraiths through a unit of Flesh Hounds and reduced them from 5 to 1 and positioned my Terrorgheist to finish them off which he did in the shooting phase. There was no close combat.
Round 2
He repositioned his block of Horrors with his general, trying to ensure he didn’t get flanked by both my Hexwraiths and Terrorgheist. Given that all his attacks are magical, I had no plans to charge with my Hexwraiths, but he did not know that. He miscast a buff and took out a few of his Horrors. He charged with his second unit of Flesh Hounds into my Skeletons w/ my Necromancer. Surprisingly I came out ahead of that and his unstable rule took out one of his own dogs.
On my turn, I had my Hexwraiths run through his Horrors. Despite dropping about 6 hits and 4 wounds, his 5+ ward save was reducing my efficiency. Same with my Terrogheist Death Shriek. Still, shaving him down. My Black Knights charged his Daemonettes. Despite my 2+ armor save, this turned out to be a bad thing. He had a strength advantage and Armor Piercing, reducing my 2+ to a 4+. I failed 1 of my saves and lost a Knight. He lost a couple Daemonettes and I came out ahead on combat resolution and so did not risk crumbling.
Round 3
He continued to reposition his Horrors and also tried to bring up his Bloodcrushers but wanted to keep them out of range of my Wraiths and Terrorgheist. He got off a buff on his Deamonettes and his Alluress then proceeded to be very alluring to my BKs and ate them for lunch. He repositioned to start moving over towards my Wraiths and Gheist.
I continued to work on his Horrors with my Gheist and Wraiths and finally managed to finish off his second unit of Flesh Hounds. His Horrors never break, sadly. Between that and his Ward save I was a bit frustrated.
Round 4
His Deamonettes charged my block of 30 Skels w/ my Vampire Lady. Thanks to Quickblood, my Lady went first. I had the Sword of Bloodshed which gave me an extra 3 attacks for a total of 8. Also, I had Red Fury that allowed me to make an extra attack for each unsaved wound I made. Luckily for me, it was at this time that his Ward save rolls decided to start failing and I got about 10 wounds through 2 waves of attacks, essentially reducing his unit to nothing. On the counter attack, he did the same to me with his Alluress and units but to lesser effect and I won Combat Res by a significant number and, thanks to him being unstable, his unit pretty much self destructed. Bonus. Little else of note on his turn.
My turn, continuing work on his Horrors with my Gheist and Wraiths. Stupid ward save. 
Rounds 5 and 6.
Pretty much repeating the above. He was not willing to bring his Blood crushers within range of any of my units and could not get his Horrors positioned to get a charge off on either my Wraiths or Gheist. He did try a big spell that would have killed my Gheist but I had my Dispel scroll in reserve and took care of that. In the end, I was up on points lost and eeked out an ‘insignificant victory’ for a 6-6 draw. However, due to a lack of attention on my part, I did not realize he had a 3rd banner as it was modeled as cloak and not on a stick. As a result, he gained an extra 6 points for secondary goals, turning a draw into a 6-12 loss for me. Bummer.
Still, it was a fun round. I’d not played Demons before and they look and play pretty well and Andrew was a pretty laid back guy. At no point did I feel I was completely in control but neither did I feel I was going to be dominated at any point.
Round 2 – Ogres – Paul Wagner
I got to meet and play Paul Wagner, the other host of Wisco Dice. He’s a great guy. Well versed in the rules, polite, funny and able to take a joke.
I’d like to say I put up a good fight and had a great round 2 report, but I did not. Round one was simply the both of us moving forward and positioning. Round two, he managed to kill both my General and my Necro which, thanks to VC rules caused me to crumble. I had to take a Leadership test for all my units and take a wound for each point by which i fail the test. For my first unit of Skels and my Hexwraiths, I rolled well and only lost 1 fig each. On my Terrorgheist, however, I rolled stupidly high and failed by 8. This pretty much caused my Gheist to evaporate. At that point, with my key offensive unit gone and no Wizards to keep my army from crumbling further, I simply conceded, losing 0 – 20.
It was neither glorious nor particularly enjoyable but it wouldn’t have taken him 4 more rounds to achieve the same results and with the crumble, I had little chance of taking any more units of the table than I already had. Paul was a nice guy about it, though, no gloating or smack talk at that point. He’s a good guy.
Round 3 – High Elves – Harrison W.
Harrison had a block of Archers, a couple blocks of Sea Guard, a block of White Lions and a couple Eagles. He also had a Mage outside of any unit and another caster in his Sea Guard.
Round 1
This was mostly positioning. He got his eagles out to be pylons and they were effective. Had to waste my Black Knights on one. He moved half his stuff up and the other half away from my Gheist and Wraiths. His shooting was good enough to take out two units of my Wolves.
I took bypassed one Eagle with my BK, charged another with my Skels and Necro and continued to chase with my Wraiths and started working on a unit of Sea Guard with my Gheist.
Round 2
He charged my Gheist with his weakened SG and got in a couple wounds. In exchange, I Shrieked, meleed and thunderstomped the unit to death. His shooting takes care of my last unit of Wolves. His magic got a couple defensive buffs off but they did not come into play this turn. His eagle wiffed at my skels and my my skels returned the favor.
Round 3
He continued to position away from my Wraiths and Gheist and accidentally let slip he had no magic items for combat. His shooting was ineffective.
On my side of the turn, I failed a charge on the flank of his White Lions with my Hexwraiths but did get off the charge with my BKs. Again, this turned out poorly. His ASF and higher init allowed him to reroll misses and his strength bonus for great weapons again negated a good chunk of my armor save. I took a couple wounds but dished out a few as well however I lost on combat res, losing the rest of my unit. I really wish I could roll those armor saves. Finally, I moved my big block of skels with my Vamp Lady into the tower that was the bonus objective. With my Gheist, I took care of his free roaming Caster.
Round 4
He charges the tower with his White Lions and remaining Sea Guard. He issued no challenge but I did and he accepted with the champ of his White Lions. I took care of him with my Vamp Lady with my Red Fury, Quickblood, Bloodshed combo and, surprisingly, my skels held up quite well and I only crumbled by a few skels and he was repulsed. My necro block continued to hold off his eagle but also not do any damage.
On my side of the round I got the charge off with my Hexwraiths, getting into the flank of his White Lions. I got a few wounds and as he had no magic weapons, he had no counter attack and I won combat res. He’s stubborn, though, so it was no real effect other than shaving him down. My Gheist screamed at his Sea Guard and did some good wounds. My skeletons actually killed the Eagle.
Round 5
He charges with his Sea Guard. In his magic phase he gets off a really good Regrowth spell and almost replenishes the unit to full health. Very annoying. He also tried to cast a Flesh to Stone on his Sea Guard but I dispelled that. His shooting remains ineffective. In close combat, my Wraiths continue to work on the White Lions. My Vamp Lady took his Sea Guard out behind the woodshed but his general was just as effective. Luckily I had dished out more wounds and had ranks so I eeked out the combat res and did not have to crumble again. Again he is repulsed.
On my side of the turn, the Wraiths continue to work over the Lions but I’m not doing enough wounds to kill off the unit. My Gheist rolled horribly and didn’t even do a wound with the Death Shriek. My other skeletons are creeping around but not getting anywhere fast.
Round 6
Yet again he charges with the Sea Guard. In the magic phase he gets off Dwellers Below and I’m not able to dispel. He takes out 20 of my 24 skels. That was a pants wetting moment. He also gets off another Regrowth on his Sea Guard bringing it back to useful numbers. Arg! I continue to shave the White Lions but for only meager results. In close combat my Vamp Lady manages to almost take out the whole unit thanks to 6 wounds on the first set of attacks and 5 wounds on the Red Fury. Take that Regrowth! I win combat res despite being down to just my vamp and 4 Skels. He is repulsed again!
On my side of the turn I do nothing and just run out the turn. I’m well ahead on army point since he’d only taken some chaff and my BK. I can’t quite remember something else that I must have taken off the table because when vp were calculated I ended up with a 10-2 combat victory and then 6 more for holding the tower for an actual full on win 16 – 2.
As with my first game, this was fun and balanced and Harrison was a good competitor.
So I was 1-2 in combat leading to only mediocre combat points. Not sure what my sportsmanship score worked out to be but my paint scores were very low (as expected) and all that combined to get me into last place with only the ringer behind me in the stats. I can’t say I’m not disappointed. I knew I wasn’t going to win overall but I was hoping for something in the middle of the pack. The first round loss really hurt me.
Overall, had a great time, got a good swag bag, won a prize and met some good folks.
