Queens of War- Game 1 and arrival (WiP)
My first blog post begins with the Queens of War Tournament that happened Saturday 19th November 2016 at Cardiff Firestorm Games (9:30am). It was an early start for me which started by picking up the 3 other members of the Bristol Vanguard Kings of War contingent heading over the bridge for the Tournament. We arrived without incident and on time despite Matt insisting on stopping 2 mins from his house for refreshments :).
When we arrived we were greeted with individual welcome packs in plastic envelopes complete with our own lists, our 1st opponent of the day and table, schedule score sheet and even a pen! Adam really went out of his went above and beyond for this one, I guess this tournament being his 1st as TO he wanted to make an impression. At this time we got a look at all the cups- 1st place, 2nd, 3rd, best painted, sports and the sparkly pink wooden spoon, expertly made by Adams niece (not really-Adam loved making it I'm sure).
For those that haven't been to Firestorm Games before like myself were impressed with the onsite shop, bar and café. The area we were allocated was at the back away from the humdrum, which was nice.
At 9:30 Adam had fun with the tannoy system and announced the start of the round - we got going. At this point without chess clocks.
My 1st opponent was Martyn Wall. A nice local chap who I haven't seen at any of the previous tournaments in the SW region. He was playing Empire of dust:
HordesSkeleton Spearman -Casket oftheDamned, Brew of Strength215
RegimentsRevenant Worm Riders 135
Revenant Worm Riders 135
Skeleton Archers -Fire-oil105
Skeleton Archers 100
Swarm 65
MonstersBoneDragon 200
Scorpion Husk 145
Scorpion Husk 145
War EngineSoul Snare 150
HeroesAmmonite Pharaoh -Ensorcelled Armour,Chariot 230
Ammonite Pharaoh -Wings of Honeymaze195
Cursed High Priest -Blessing of the Gods, Breath + Vicious, Heal 180
My list for the Tournament was as follows:
HordesRevenants 200
Werewolves -Brew of Strength275
RegimentsMummies 170
Soul Reaver Cavalry -Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar320
TroopsWraiths 140
Wraiths 140
Wraiths 140
HeroesRevenant King -Undead Horse, Blade of Slashing145
Vampire Lord -Undead Horse 235
Vampire Lord -Undead Horse 235
1st Scenario- LOOT
(This is how things looked going into Martyn's 1st turn):
I had 1st turn-I had spread my deployment fairly thin and as a result I advanced pretty cautiously only running one of the vampires on the left flank to bait/threaten his line. I deployed the Werewolves on the left with x2 vampires as support, next 2 troops of wraiths, the mummies were deployed with the revenants and rev king. The soul reaver cav were on the right but not too far to the in order right to stay within touching distance of my rev king for inspiring should they need it in the later turns. The dar right troop of wraiths were used as cover for the soul reavers.
Martyn deployed his cav on my left and his slower shooty elements to the right with the bone dragon in the middle protecting the soul snare. This was my 1st battle against empire of dust, but playing undead gave me some understanding of his army.
Martyn took the bait and charged the vamp, I felt confident the vamp would survive the initial punch from the pharoh and the worm riders- but then I failed to take into account the scorpion being surged into him... Lucky for me he failed the surge by 1 inch and decided to only charge with the worms. Resulting in just 3 damage. He slowly advanced else where, up to the obstacle in the middle and shot at my army. The bows weren't overwhelming but the right hand hand wraith troop took some damage but needed an above average nerve roll and stayed to charge the swarm in UDead turn 2. The WW charged the pharoh with wings vamp 2 charged the rear of the scorpion Vamp one counter charged the worms x2 troops of wraiths in the middle charged the worms and the anvil advanced towards the counters in the centre:
Both vampires put some damage on their targets but failed to w/route. The WWs fluffed their attacks against the pharaoh, all the wraiths put minimal damage and rolled low on their nerve rolls. Across the board the empire of dust held firm.
Dust turn 2. Martyn counter charged the WWs with the pharaoh, vamp2 with his scorpion, vamp 1 with the worms and charged his pharaoh on chariot into vamp2 as well. The worms countered the left hand wraiths and the bone dragon flanked the middle troop of wraiths, the swarm countered the wraith troop. The Pharaoh was on fire this game, all attacks hit and he caused 4 wounds, rolled big on the nerve roll and wavered the wolves. The scorpion caused 2 wounds but failed to waver. The Worms and Pharaoh did 4 wounds bringing the vamp to 5 but again failed to w/route.
The next set of worms did a fair amount of damaged but rolled below average on the nerve roll. The big wiff was the bone dragon, causing a large number of wounds only needing a low number on the nerve roll but failed. This allowed me to flank charge the dragon with the mummies in my next turn. The Swarm failed to cause a single wound against the far right wraiths allowing them to retain their fly. Shooting put a few wounds here and there but nothing of note.
Turn 3 UD
WW sat twiddling their thumbs, vamp 1 counter charged the scorpion, vamp 2 countered the worms. Wraiths countered the worms and dragon respectively, the mummies flanked the dragon, far right wraiths flew over the swarm to tie up the spearmen and make room for the rev horde to charge the swarm and pick up the loot and the soul reavers charged the archers in the forest.
I have lots of pictures from here on out but no notes, things hotted up so I was more focused on the games, so unfortunately the details may not bee 100%.
The Revenants and Soulreavers blew through their targets and turned to face the horde of spears
The combined might of the mummies, wraith and rev king finished the dragon but not before it routed the wraith troop. It was at this point that i felt the 5 points in the blade of slashing was great spend for the rev king :)
The were wolves were now in a bad spot having been wavered twice and the damage stacking.
after routing the dragon the mummies charged one of the worm regiments. After routing the horde of spearmen the revenants charged the remaining archer regiment, and the soulreavers turned to charge the high priest.
This time round the vampire managed to take out the scorpion. In Martyn's following turn the pharaoh routed the WWs. I put my charcters in the way to tie up the remaining Empire flank. I then had the freedom to pick up the remaining loot token with my wraiths, who subsequently had routed the worm riders with the help of the mummies.
At this stage vampire 1 had racked up a large chunk of damage and was wavered. The rev king had also been wavered by the pharaoh on chariot.
(the worms are in the dead pile) At this stage things looked pretty goof for me. Just a mop up to get as many kill points as possible. I had all 3 loot tokens as well.
The game finished 18-2 to me. It was a fairly straight forward game, I felt a little uneasy when the werewolves were held up but the vamps held on long enough for the rest of the army to clean up. I got lucky with the wraiths holding up the bone dragon. It made the whole game run that much smoother for me. NVP - wraith troop 2 for holding up the dragon, closely followed by vampire 1 for sticking around like a champ.
On to game 2....
