Thanks for the kind words, and glad you're digging this version of the chicken noble. He isn't the standard build, but instead he adds to my army exactly what I think I need, and fulfills that role perfectly. Plus, I have converted the eagle he rides on (simple conversion that works wonders, it is a wood elf warhawk with griffon wings. It looks amazing).I also mixed a couple of the platic kits to make the rider look awesome, so the model makes me happy.
ANYWAYS! On to Game 4, the last in the tournament, and probably the most fun for me. It was against the incredibly rare Chaos Dwarves, and this was only my second time playing them. I knew to watch out for Blunder busses, and I knew that their shooting in general was kind of crazy. I would also take care to minimize the impact of the Earth Shaker on the game, as that war machine is incredibly destructive.
Chaos Dwarf Army:
Bird looking thing with an L - Chaos Dwarf Lord on Great Taurus (flying monster)
4+ armor save, 4+ ward or regen? Immune to flaming attacks
Big hammer of hurt me, S 6 and something else special about it.
In a warrior unit - lvl 2 Chaos Dwarf wizard, two scrolls
In a warrior unit - lvl 2 Chaos Dwarf wizard, item that lessens both army pools by D3 a turn.
In a blunderbuss unit - lvl 2 Chaos Dwarf wizard, scroll and something else.
D -20 Dwarf Warriors, full command
D -20 Dwarf Warriors, full command
B - 15 Blunderbusses, musician
B - 15 Blunderbusses, musician
W - 10 Hobgoblin Wolf Riders
A - 10 Hobgoblin archers
A - 10 Hobgoblin archers
BC - 6 or 7 Bull Centaurs
Bow looking things - 4 Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers
Orange circle - 1 Earth Shaker Cannon.
For those of you who don't know, the earth shaker is inredibly devastating. Not only is it a nice stone thrower, however it also halves the movement of everything within a certain radius of where ever it lands. That is why for deployment, I seperated my battle line into three groups. The left flank group was comprised of the Tiranoc Chariot and the Dragon Princes, they would be able to charge on turn 2 if the earth shaker did not hurt them. The second group was in the center, with the WLC and the PG. The third group was the LSG, Reavers, Eagle, and chicken noble on the right flank. I seperated these groups out, because now the Earth Shaker could only slow down small segments of my army, while not limiting its' overall effectiveness. Also, I knew that in order to win the game, I would have to take out his shooting first and foremost, so to increase my chances of taking his shooting out in Turn 2, I placed my Prince in my Reavers ( he could not be shot at anyways if I didn't get the first turn, as the woods blocked the line of sight). That way, once the reavers engaged the units on his right flank, I would be more than likely to be winning combats. Also, I would be able to charge the Prince out of the reavers if need be. The chicken noble was also on the right flank, hoping to take out some bolt throwers and start running amok in his battle line.
Turn 1 - I GOT TO GO FIRST! BWHAHAHHAHA. Awesomeness, that was great. First time in a LONG time I won a dice off to go first, which in this game I needed badly! Anyways, turn 1 saw the eagle on the left move in front of the Bull centaurs. I could now charge the Earth shaker or the bolt throwers if he did not do anything about the eagle. My Tiranoc Chariot and Dragon Princes moved up, taking care to be out of range of the Bull Centaurs. The Tiranoc chariot however was in fact in range to charge his far left bolt thrower in Turn 2. The PG moved forward, along with the WLC, who shifted a little left to further space itself from the PG (once again, minimizing impact of the Earth Shaker). The most significant movement happened on my right flank. The LSG moved onto the hill, ready to fire on the hobgoblin archers in the woods. The Reavers moved their full 18" forward and slightly around the woods. The Shadow Warriors then moved their full 10" out of the woods to screen this incoming flank maneuver. Now the bolt throwers on his right side could not concentrate fire on the chicken noble (even needing 5's, since I badly needed his shooting gone, I did not want to take the chance that he would go down, usually i'm ok with those odds as that is what the chicken noble is built for, to take fire). He would have only one shot at the chicken noble, unless he also wanted to shoot at him with his far bolt thrower (which would need 6's). One bolt thrower could see to my reaver unit, but I was ok with losing one of those guys. My Prince was on the corner, and would be able to charge a Bolt thrower by himself in Turn 2. If the shadow warriors lived, they would also be able to charge. If all went well, during turn 2 I would cut his major firepower down to almost nothing. In magic, I managed to give the chicken noble a 5+ ward. During my shooting, since I had plans for his artillery, I focused fire on those damn blunderbusses. I managed to take out a rank of one of the units, making its' firepower S4 instead of S5.
For his turn, he charged the eagle in front of the bull centaurs with the fast cav unit. My eagle decided to flee, and got away safely. His wolf rider's flank was now available for the Dragon Princes and the Tiranoc Chariot. His Bull Centaurs moved forward at an angle that faced my Dragon Princes and Tiranoc Chariot. This move also might have gotten the bull centaurs in range to be flanked by my WLC, which would be lovely. His Dwarf Lord's mount also flew forward slightly to the left of the hill so that he could now see out at my incoming army. For his magic, he didn't get anything off, but with his item that limits my dispel pool (the D3 less a turn), I ended up burning a scroll and letting a PG die. For his shooting, he decided to slow down my left flank (DPs and chariot) with an earth shaker shot. The shot missed the DPs and chariot, however both were slowed. Also, his darn hobgoblin archers on his left flank actually managed to wipe out my reavers, leaving my Prince stranded! Ahhh! No one saw that coming, he rolled very well for that to happen. Now that the Prince was by himself, two bolt throwers (one that could see on his right flank, and another one on the hill) took aim at my general and opened fire. Both hit, both wounded! One did 2 wounds and I failed my ward save. The other would do another 2 wounds, but I made that ward save! Due to his unit of Reavers dying, he had to take a panic test, which he promptly failed! He ran away, but luckily it also took him out of the line of fire of anything else once I rallied. Phew, that was slightly ridiculous, but funny to see happen. He was smack talking about those damn hobgoblin archers for the rest of the game
No combat.
Turn 2: My plan worked very well. My shadow warriors charged 1 bolt thrower, while my chicken noble charged the other. Dragon Princes and the Tiranoc chariot both declared a charge on his fast cav (potentially causing panic to the archers, bolt thrower, and messing up his battle line). He decided to flee, which was a good idea, because even with my movement halved I was in range with both units. My WLC also declared a charge into the bull centaurs, to which he prompty fled (he must have thought the charge range was only 14" on the lion chariot, only reason I can think of that he would move up so far). The WLC could also see the earth shaker, and would be able to charge in Turn 3 if I decided to. With their general sitting nearby, no one decided to run. The rest of my line continued to move forward, the PG hugged the tree line so that only one unit (the S4 one) could shoot at them during next turn, I would also be able to charge on turn 3. The LSG on my right flank moved a full 10 forward, wanting to get those wretched hobgoblin archers for utterly destroying the reavers. My Prince also rallied
The LSG on my left moved down the hill, knowing their S 3 bow shots were not going to be as effective as a detachment role would be in the later game. During magic, I was able to get Drain Magic off, as he failed a dispel roll. In the shooting phase, I tried taking out his other bolt thrower on the hill, and only managed to kill 1 crew (almost had both!). Random other blunderbusses died. In combat, shadow warriors rolled their bolt thrower, as did the chicken noble. Chicken noble over ran behind the enemy lines, while the shadow warriors also decided to overrun. At this point, there were only 2 Shadow Warriors left. Overrunning would take me into one of the Blunderbuss units, which meant that they would not be able to shoot until at least Turn 4 (he could be in combat for his turn 2, which meant they could not move to redirect their fire at the main line. In turn 3, having killed off the shadow warriors, he could face the main battle line, but since he moved he could not shoot, hence taking them out of the game until turn 4). So, on Turn 2 my shadow warriors acted as an effective screen (well, would have if not for those damn archers killing the reavers), they took out a bolt thrower, and are now taking out a blunderbuss unit for two turns, i'd say that's great point usage).
For his turn 2, he decided to charge my WLC with his dwarf lord, which I decided to hold (I would have fled with either my Tiranoc or DP unit if he charged them instead). He was tragically out of 20" range (figured), and stopped 3 " in front of my WLC. One of the dwarf wizards moved out of a unit of warriors, sensing some looming danger coming his way. He also wanted to get some magic missiles towards the crumbling right flank. Bull centaurs and wolf riders rallied behind the hill, wolf riders moved forward and angled toward my incoming chariot and DP. For Magic, he got off Fiery Blast at my chicken noble (arg!) killing the eagle out from under him. Oh, forgot to mention, not only did he get the spell off, but he rolled a double 6 for the amount of S4's. Ouch. That has also rarely happened to me, the chicken noble tends to survive because of my own magic defense, maneuvering, and the Sacred Incense. Can't do anything about that amount of pain though! No wounds to the noble, but the eagle died. No problem, the wizard is still on his own, and my noble isn't very far
For shooting, his earth shaker decided to blow up! He would later say that it had a huge impact on the game, however his WLC was going to be dead on Turn 3, because that's what my WLC was going after. He had decided to try killing off the DPs and Tiranoc Chariot again, and would not have slowed down my WLC. Anyways, his other bolt thrower did 2 wounds to the Tiranoc Chariot. His blunderbusses took down 2 more PG. No other mention worthy shooting. In combat, my Shadow Warriors dragged down one of the blunderbusses and stabbed him to def! They in turn did nothing. He had two ranks and outnumber, and I killed 1. I actually held! That was a huge surprise!
Turn 3:
With the Earth Shaker dead, it was time to charge the WLC into the Dwarf Lord on Great Taurus. The LSG that had come off the hill on the left also charged in on the dwarf lord's flank (I was confident I could kill off the great taurus). I went ahead and blew my dragon horn, which ended up saving me because my WLC failed his first fear test. Dragon Princes charged the archers on the hill, and the tiranoc chariot charged the bolt thrower on the left of the hill. The PG charged into the Blunderbuss unit at S4, to which 1 other PG died. I was now at 11 PG, to his 11 Blunderbusses. I was confident I could win the combat, but the auto break due to fear would be great.Chicken noble now on foot decided not to aid the shadow warriors and go after the mage in the open (even without the eagle, he still knows his role!). The Prince moves up slightly behind the shadow warriors but out of charge arc if the shadow warriors broke and ran. They would not have his ld. to use on break tests too. In magic, he burned his scroll on a Drain Magic attempt. For shooting, I finished off the other crew of the other bolt thrower. In combat, The Dragon Prines and Tiranoc chariot mauled the archers and bolt thrower, and overran into the Bull Centaurs. The PG killed only 1 Blunderbuss, but that would seal their fate, as they were now outnumbered by a fear causer. They broke and the PG easily ran them down. The WLC didn't do as hot as I thought it would, and only managed to do 3 wounds to the Great Taurus (rolled a 3 for impact hits, and didn't roll well on any to wound rolls) the LSG also failed to kill off the last remaining wound. The Lord and mount killed off 4 seagaurd. I still won combat, however he made his break test. the Shadow warriors lost combat, but again held due to the Princes' leadership.
For his turn 3, a dwarf warrior unit charged into the flank of my Lion Chariot, and that was his only charge. I forget why, but his wolf riders were unable to charge into my tiranoc chariot or DPs...ah, they were behind the bull centaurs, although I honestly can't remember why. There was a reason for it...Anyways, in magic, he got an irresistable fiery blast on my noble that was chasing the wizard, and killed him off (this being only the second game he has outright died, for those of you wondering how often this happens). No shooting worthy of mention. In combat, my WLC finished off the mount (yay!) and even put a wound on the Lord. LSG did nothing but give the lord 2 kills. Chaos Dwarves won that combat with their static res, and the LSG ran away from combat, while the WLC stayed. Bull Centaurs got stomped on by the DPs and Tiranoc Chariot, beat then and ran off the board. Wolf Riders panicked and ran off the board.
Turn 4: LSG on the right flank charged into the hobgoblin archers. I turned the PG around to face the flank of the Blunderbuss unit fighting the Shadow Warriors, the Dragon Princes and Tiranoc Chariot came on top of the hill to charge the lone warrior unit. The LSG on the left could not rally, and continued to run. For magic, drain magic was cast, for shooting, I killed off the wizard who had killed my chicken noble (serves him right!). In combat, WLC took two wounds, did another wound to the Lord, and broke from combat. He did get away though
LSG on the right flank took out the archers and claimed the table quarter (yay!). Shadow warriors broke (finally) and ran, although they got away.
For his turn 4, he chased my WLC again, but obviously did not catch him (still on the board though). Blunderbusses charged the fleeing shadow warriors, who fled away. His dwarf warrior unit turned and faced the DPs and Tiranoc Chariot. No real magic or shooting.
Turn 5: We ended on Turn 4! AHHH! Can you believe it? Turn 4 I would have taken out another wizard, an entire dwarf warrior unit, another blunderbuss unit, and possibly even shooting the dwarf lord to death! I would have also rallied the WLC! We had to quit due to time though, which got me a solid victory instead of a massacre
For the tournament, I ended up 10th out of 46, which I felt was great considering my list is a bit strange. I we had finished out this game, I would have finished closer to 5th.
It was a great tournament, loads of fun, and the best part is that for once it was only 15 minutes away from my house as opposed to a 4+ hour drive. I hope you guys enjoyed some of the reporting, even though I know i'm not the best at it. Still, I had some fun, and I'd like to compare those amazing diagrams to Picasso's art
Reverse Ward save, other goodies.
. In all, my army performed incredibly well. All the units performed well in their assigned tasks, and I was very happy with its' performance. In addition, I was complimented with the overall balance of the list, which is always great to hear. My opponent was fun, and in truth it was a close game until the end. 
...random people in the background, " 
Uh, no no. Definitely lame."
