last updated:
21.08.08 | 19:43 gmt
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written by:
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Blood for the Blood God
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It was Thursday the 23rd of January and I was still no wiser to what I was going to take to the Slaughter, just two days away. Should I take my High Elf cavalry army or the Vampire Counts still tucked away in their handmade coffin? Decisions, decisions - nah, I'll take the same as last year, Khorne Daemons!
I had painted a large Netherlord from
Heresy
over the last few weeks and I was dying to give this guy a proper tournament game, along with a heavily converted Dragon Ogre Drake. These would give most players a headache, and after spending over two hours on the phone to
Jason Annett discussing tactics I thought "Yeah, lets go for it!"
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organiser:
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venue:
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city:
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country:
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Sheffield
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United Kingdom
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system:
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event rules:
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Warhammer 6th
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Followers of the Blood God
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Bloodthirster
1 x Khornate Aspiring Champion on barded steed
1 x Bray-Shaman
2 units of Bloodletters
5 x Fleshounds
5 x Fleshounds
2 units of Khornate Chaos Knights
5 x Furies
1 x Tuskgor Chariot
10 x Chaos Warhounds
1 x Dragon Ogre Drake
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opponent:
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army:
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High Elves
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I arrived on the Saturday morning fully laidened and carrying gifts, and after spending ten minutes setting the laptop up for the lads I had a quick walk round to say hello. Within a matter of a few minutes the draw was made, and I couldn’t believe it - my first game would be against my good friend and clubmate
Andrew Chesney!
When I realised my draw was against Andy I was relieved to see that I was playing one of the best Warhammer players in the UK. The question was - what was that he was unpacking? It didn’t take long before the fate of Khorne was before me in the shape of
Rob Lane all-conquering High Elf cavalry army: I have played this more times than you can shake a stick at and I knew that if I made one mistake, Andy would punish me big style!
Andy started how he wanted to by slapping my wizard silly in the Wizard's Duel; even with the Gaze of the Gods (a 4+ ward save) and Regeneration on a 4+ I still couldn’t scratch that High Elf. 600 plays 0 - that’s a good start then!
With this in mind I now turned my thoughts on the job at hand. Winning the first turn, I moved the entire army forward but keeping the Bloodthirster pointing backwards. Andy immediately used the Elf Prince's Leadership to good effect, charging his chariots into both units of Fleshounds, and moved his big unit of Silver Helms into a threatening position on my right hand side. After both bolt-throwers had fired at my doggie unit and ripped them to bits it was down to combat.
Andy's chariots only managed two impact hits and both failed to wound. Unfortunately for him, the Fleshounds caused one back and, with fear and outnumbering, auto-broke them, running them down and pursuing into a bolt-thrower. In my turn the Bloodthirster charged his general's unit, along with the Aspiring Champion and Chosen Knights to boot. The Bloodthirster did the business, killing his general, and with the rest of the Silver Helms cut to pieces they turned tail and fled, only to be run down by the big lad.
The next turn saw Andy charging the rest of my units with his remaining forces, all to no effect; the last two units failed to destroy the Chosen Khornate Knights, who killed six Silver Helms outright. The chariots failed to wound the other unit of Knights, too.
With my first game completed I took heart that, against such a good opponent, the victory was indeed well fought. Hopefully the next game would be a bit easier!
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Chaos:
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High Elves:
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3,000 points
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477 points
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opponent:
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army:
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Steve Thornton
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Dark Elves
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When the draw for the second game came up and I saw I was playing Steve Thornton I knew it would be no easy game. Steve's an excellent player and would test me on every opportunity. We started with the duel and to my amazement I managed a total victory 600 to nil - that's a bit better!
Steve surprised me by bringing Dark Elves, and when I saw the four Reaper bolt-throwers I knew the big lad would have to be careful for a few turns. Thankfully though I won the first turn, and moved my battle line forward leaving the Bloodthirster lurking behind a wood along with the Bray-shaman. Steve's first turn consisted of moving his Cold One Knights forward to meet me and proceeding to shoot me to death. First on the list were the dogs and a unit of Fleshounds! Steve's magic phase was uneventful and so when it came to my turn I charged with everything I could. The Drake charged the Cold One Knights, who fled off the board and the Fleshounds attacked the Dark Elves sat on the hill.
The Cold Ones fleeing off the board was a great start, but the Fleshounds had a case of rubber teeth syndrome and only killed one Dark Elf out of ten attacks. With Steve's guys killing two back, outnumbering and a hill I was suddenly in deep trouble, but with a roll of 4 I felt a sigh of relief. Once again the Elves let loose their anger with the four Reapers; my Khornate knights lost two of their comrades and the ten dogs died. It was small consolation though - the Fleshounds finally broke the Elves on the hill and ran them down, pursuing into a Reaper and causing another machine to panic. However, Steve's general on a Manticore charged my Aspiring champion, and I found out he had the Gauntlets of Power... ouch! That#s one dead Champion then and, with a good dice roll, he overran into my chariot.
Again Steve's magic was not very good and it was my turn again. The Bloodthirster moved out to play and he left the general alone, concentrating on the two remaining Reapers now facing the big fella. I charged Steve's unit of Corsairs with the Chosen Knights and, after eighteeen Strength 5 attacks, only one Elf was left standing... which proceeded to turn and flee, only to be run down. Steve then decided to charge the Knights in the rear with his general, but after only killing two knights and me killing the Manticore - well, it was all over! Time to add up the points.
When we sat down to count them up it was a minor victory to me! Crikey, two games and two wins... Khorne would be pleased!
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Chaos:
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Dark Elves:
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2,286 points
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1,324 points
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It was no surprise to find out that I would be facing 2001's Champion and this year's organiser, the snail himself
John Dale and his rock hard Beastmen! We started with the duel and, to no surprise, John's Bray-Shaman nuked me in the first turn! Oh dear, it's going to be one of those games is it?
Again I managed to get the first turn and in typical Khornate fashion ran everything I had at the beasties, keeping the Drake to the centre and the Bloodthirster looking at the Dragon Ogres on my right-hand side. I like playing John because you can see the cogs going round and testing every possible charge, combat and flee reaction possible, but with careful precision he moved his force forward, shielding his main unit with the wood to his left flank.
Well, it's got to be done really - the Bloodthirster charged the Dragon Ogres, who fled and were run down, and the Drake charged a unit of Gors just coming out of the wood. The following combat carried on for three turns, with the Drake causing on average one kill out of six attacks each go. At one point I had to get my son Luke to blow on the dice, as a 4 was needed for him to stop fleeing; getting a 3 was too much for John, showing us he really can do a fantastic Basil Fawlty impression! With the line held and the Bloodthirster in the rear, victory was at hand - the only thing I had to do was tie up the Bestigor and the magic phase allowed me to Steed of Shadows my wizard in front of them.
Time to add them points up - after my first game against John in a tourney I had managed a good result. Payback time after all those wins and draws at the club!
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Chaos:
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Beastmen:
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3,000 points
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900 points
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That Night
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Myself and Luke went home to Mansfield for an early night - after all, even Khorne needs his beauty sleep!
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opponent:
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army:
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Paul Groves
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High Elves
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First game of the morning was against Paul Groves of the Troll Slayers and a great guy. We started with the Wizard's Duel and, to my amazement, it ended up 600 – nil to me! I couldn’t believe my luck, beating a High Elf wizard on a Sunday morning!
Paul's army was pretty much the same as
Rob Lane's, except that the two main characters had shooting abilities in the form of the Bow of the Seafarer and the Reaver Bow, and he had a bolt-thrower or two... ouch, that’ll sting then! I managed to grab the first turn and moved everything forward, including the big boy ready to attack. Paul surprised me by moving all his line back except a chariot attacking a unit of Fleshounds. The bolt-throwers, however, found their mark - reducing the Drake down to one wound. Oh crap!
My turn, the Bloodthirster and Drake both charged the Dragon Princes, killing enough to make them break but unfortunately losing the Drake to Paul's general's magic weapon. With the main force now split in two it was only a question of time before I managed to wipe Paul's entire force out to an Elf - his level two wizard!
Another head for the feet of Khorne!
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Chaos:
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High Elves:
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3,000 points
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526 points
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Crikey, last game of the tourney and I'm on table one - unbelievable!
The last game would be against new boy at the Dragon Slayers
Dave Grant; I knew from watching Dave at the club he was an excellent player and this would be a very interesting game. Let's hope Khorne would be watching!
The Duel kicked off with me winning, but Dave caused two wounds on my wizard, which reduced the points gained somewhat. Dave's army consisted of a unit of Chosen Knights, a unit of Dragon Ogres and a Dragon Ogre Drake like my own "nasty", as well as other stuff. I again managed to win the first turn and positioned the strength of my forces on the right to match Dave's Knights and Dragon Ogres. Dave's turn saw a lot of moving about and it was pretty clear this game would be like chess with his forces braced ready for impact.
Well, Blood for the Blood God I say: the Bloodthirster ripped into a chariot with a sorcerer placed inside and the Drake proceeded around for a side attack onto his Chosen. My unit of Fleshounds attacked his Dragon Ogres, who were sat on a hill. Dave unfortunately was having none of this and charged my Chosen Khornate Knights with his Chosen and general sat inside; after a blaze of dice rolls four Khornate Knights lay dead on the ground and, with Khorne having an attack of rubber sword, this resulted in my Knights breaking and being run down. Oh, goody.
The Fleshounds and Dragon Ogres on the hill fought for three turns, with neither unit getting the upper hand, but the Bloodthirster saw his doggies in trouble and when he overran into the Dragon Ogres they knew it would be curtains for sure. I charged with everything I had left and managed to kill the Dragon Ogres and his Drake in a fury of attacks from both my own Drake and the Bloodthirster. In Dave's turn he realised that with his main force gone and a Drake and Bloodthirster knocking around, it was only a question of time before his time was up.
It was a very close game and by far the hardest of the weekend - on a number of occasions it really was in the balance, but with Khorne smiling down on me and Dave not having the luck on the dice the day was won.
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Chaos:
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Chaos:
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2,925 points
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1,000 points
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Taking Stock
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After the end of the last game I realised I had at least won the Best General award, especially as Jon Pegg and
Jason Annett had drawn on table two. The question was, had I achieved my long time goal of 1st place at a tournament? I'd been second and third before - but that first had eluded me!
It was to my great relief that
John Dale read out my name for the coveted first place and nobody was happier than me - except my son Luke, who was more than happy to collect the trophies and prizes! I must thank everone at the tournament for making mine and Luke's weekend!
Blood for the Blood God!
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tournament report:
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Sheffield Slaughter 2003
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<< Previous Dragon Slayer Tournament
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Next Dragon Slayer Tournament >>
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Thursday, 20 November 2008
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