The Dwarfs

Joseph Bugman (General)
Runesmith: Shield, RoStone, Silver Horn of Vengeance, RoSpellbreaking.
Runesmith: Shield, RoStone, Fiery Ring of Thori, RoSpellbreaking, RotFurnace.
Thane: BSB, Shield, MRoGrungni, RoSlowness, Strollaz' Rune.
Longbeards: x53, Shields, Full Command, RoStoicism.
Miners: x38, Full Command, Steamdrill.
Miners: x38, Full Command, Steamdrill.
Bugman's Rangers: x38, FullCommand, Shields.

GAME ONE

The High Elves

Alarielle
Noble BSB w/Banner of Avelorn
Noble
Loremaster
Ellyrian Reavers x5
Ellyrian Reavers x5
Silver Helms x15
Archers x10
Archers x10
Great Eagle
Great Eagle
Frostheart Phoenix
White Lions x30ish w/Banner of the World Dragon
Phoenix Guard x 30ish

My first game was against a High Elf opponent with an army that really just didn't scare me. Of course, that was before I discovered what synergies it involved... More on that later. You can see our deployment below. I had to deploy the first unit, so I deployed the Shieldbeards right in the middle of my deployment zone so that they would have a decent chance of actually being involved in the battle. My opponent deployed his entire army before I deployed my Rangers. (I enjoyed that feeling again!) I deployed them in support of my Shieldbeards and enabled the Shieldbeards to make a full Vanguard move. My units were now directly across from my opponent's White Lions and Phoenix Guard. I knew the White Lions had the Banner of the World Dragon and the Phoenix Guard have a 4+ Ward Save, but I was confident that my numbers would be able to wear down the Elven infantry, especially once my Miners joined the grind. I won the roll for first turn.
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Dwarfs Turn One: I didn't have much to do. I decided to try to clear out some chaff since I couldn't charge on the first turn. My Rangers shot at the Ellyrian Reavers, but only managed to kill 4 of them! You want to know why? My opponent told me they got a 5+ Ward Save for being within 12" of Alarielle! I don't think he was trying to cheat. I know him too well to imagine that would have been the case. However, this is one of the reasons why we have a moral obligation to one another as players to know the rules, especially when it comes to using special characters. I remember assuming it worked something like the MRoGrungni at the time, even though I hadn't ever heard of anything that gave High Elf armies a 12"-radius 5+ Ward Save against shooting attacks. I figured maybe it was just way too expensive for the effect or something and that was why I hadn't heard of it before. The remaining Reaver passed his panic check. I want anyone reading this report to take special note of that remaining Reaver, because it may have completely changed the game. I wouldn't make a big fuss about it if I had rolled just a single wound too few or something of the sort, but my opponent passed 5 or 6 5+ Ward Save rolls! Seriously, those Reavers would have been gone and would have forced panic checks on his other units nearby!
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High Elves Turn One: The High Elf forces swiftly began to encircle my Dwarf hordes. I still wasn't overly concerned, though. I was confident my units could munch through the White Lions with ease, even if they took a good number of casualties. Once the White Lions were gone, I'd just gang up on the Phoenix Guard and grind it out. Then came the magic phase, where I learned something similarly disgruntling... My opponent got an additional +4 to his casting attempts when casting spells from the Lore of Life because of the Banner of Avelorn in his Phoenix Guard unit! That meant a total of +8 to cast Lore of Life Spells! He started with Awakening of the Wood, since my Rangers were partially in a forest. He had Dwellers and Flesh to Stone still, so I decided to not even bother trying to dispel Awakening of the Wood. After all was said and done, it fortunately only cost me a single Ranger. It could have been a lot worse. My opponent then attempted Dwellers against my Longbeards. I was conflicted. He got a really high roll, but I wanted to save my Runes of Spellbreaking for combat later to prevent him from getting buffs up... A dilemma. I opted to throw my five dispel dice at the spell. Fortunately, I rolled two 6s, because I didn't have a chance in hell to beat his roll with his +8! Shooting was useless, thanks to heavy armor and shields, along with the MRoGrungni.
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D2: I didn't want to waste any time getting stuck in, considering my opponent's advantage of a stupid-powerful magic phase. I needed to get rid of that Alarielle character! I sounded the Silver Horn, and both of my units charged the White Lions. The Shieldbeards would get to fight both the White Lions and the Phoenix Guard units, which would mean they would have to break the Shieldbeards' Stubborn in order to dislodge. My plan was to bring on my Miners directly behind the combat in the middle there and take the White Lions and Phoenix Guard from behind. Fortunately both of my units of Miners did show up this turn, so I placed them as you can see below. Their presence on the board was comforting. As Niccolo Machiavelli advises, I could now engage my opponent, risking my whole fortune, since I was now supported by my whole forces. Combat did not go as well as I had hoped and better than I had hoped all at the same time. The upside was that the White Lions fluffed their attacks. The downside is that, despite the Silver Horn, my units did far less damage to the White Lions than they should have. At this point, I really didn't care how many troops I lost (both units were currently Stubborn, thanks to Bugman's brew) as long as I was able to kill his. The problem was that for every three wounds I dealt to the White Lions, my opponent saved 1 of them with his 5+ Ward Save that evidently worked in close combat, too!!!... Frustrating! I needed to push through those White Lions so that my Rangers could move round to keep the rest of the Elf army in check. You can see how many wounds I did to the White Lions. Now I was convinced that Alarielle was just completely broken and only usable by WAAC players who want to lose friends and alienate people through a systematic fracturation of their human relationships. To make matters worse, the Phoenix Guards and Nobles directed their attacks at my BSB and killed him, leaving me without a Leadership reroll. I figured he had done most of what I brought him along to do anyway, so his loss wasn't a terrible blow. I should be winning combat, so I should be alright without a BSB for the rest of the game. But his loss was still aggravating... At least I took out one of the Nobles, forcing Alarielle to move up into the front rank of the unit where I could attack her.
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HE2: Archers charged from the right flank into Bugman's Rangers. Reavers charged the rear of my Longbeards. The Frostheart Phoenix--hate those things, by the way--charged the flank of my Longbeards... Combat should still go my way, but it was going to be an uphill struggle this turn. Remember that lone Reaver from my first turn? Look where he ended up in the map below... Make note of that. It comes into play on my following turn. I would absolutely have to stop my opponent's magic from buffing his units if I wanted to have a chance at survival. I used both of my Runes of Spellbreaking, all my dispel dice (completely useless), and the White Lions still saw their Toughness go up to 5! I wanted to throw some dice. Instead, I sang that little song from Daniel Tiger, a show my little daughter watches: "When you feel so mad that you wanna' roar, take a deep breath breath in, and count to four... 1... 2... 3... 4." Moving on. ;-) So, my units lost combat, because for every three wounds I dealt to the buffed White Lions and the Archers, 1 of them, on average, was ignored with a 5+ Ward Save. Now, watch this! My Rangers dealt 8 wounds to the Archers. 8. Had my opponent been playing by the rules because he read them carefully enough to not abuse them entirely--even if it was out of ignorance--that unit of Archers would not be there at all. I would probably have even won combat. As it was, though, I lost combat. Without my BSB, and despite being Stubborn, the Rangers failed their break test and ran. 2 Archers gave chase and ran them down!!! ... ... ... ...
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D3: My Miners charged in. The horde on the right would not be able to make it into the combat this turn, unfortunately, as its overrun would send it screeching to a halt in combat against the Great Eagle. That would hurt not to have them able to help out against the White Lions. That unit was where most of my combat resolution was coming from, and I could no longer afford to lose combats. The diminished Strength on my Longbeards from the Frostheart Phoenix was really harshing my vibe, as they say. I couldn't do anything about it until I could bring more attacks to bear against the monster. Meanwhile, it was happy enough to munch on my Dwarfs and enjoy its bearded lunch. Combat was just awful. My opponent fluffed a lot of his attacks from the White Lions again, but it didn't matter if I couldn't kill them in return. They kept making 5+ Ward Saves. Now everything I was fighting had either a 5+ Ward or better! You can't fight that! Who the hell cares if Elves are only Toughness 3 if they have a 5+ Ward Save?!? Still, this time I won combat by 4! My opponent's general was Leadership 10, meaning that everything but his White Lions had to roll a 6 or less for their break test. All three units passed their break test. Are you kidding me?!? The White Lions' passing didn't surprise me, since they were Stubborn. But the others? Really?
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HE3: The Silver Helms charged into the rear of my Shieldbeards. It would take a miracle to salvage this turn's combat round... Then I was able to stop Wyssan's Wildform and Flesh to Stone with my dispel dice before my opponent opened Pandora's other box and cast Flesh to Stone AGAIN, granting T5 Phoenix Guard... followed by Regrowth to raise 3 of the fallen White Lions... Combat finished off the hopes of coming out with at least a draw or minor loss. The Longbeards were killed to the Dwarf, and the Miners broke and ran, cut down by the pursuing Great Eagle.
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The game ended with a complete and utter victory for the High Elves! Time was called, so we had to stop there. Had we continued, I have no doubt the High Elves would have tabled me. Not a great start for the day...

GAME TWO

The Orcs and Goblins

Savage Orc Great Shaman
Orc Warboss
Orc BSB
Night Goblin Shaman
Night Goblin Big Boss x3 or x4
Goblin Big Boss on Giant Wolf x4
₄₀ Orc Boyz
₃₀ Orc 'Arrer Boyz
₄₀ Night Goblins
Doom Diver x2
Rock Lobber x2
₄₀ Savage Orc Big 'Uns
₁₈ Trolls

My second game was a Dawn Attack scenario against an Orcs and Goblins army. My opponent didn't get hit too hard by the scenario. He's played against me on several occasions, including at least a few games against my old ambushing Dwarf army from the previous Dwarf army book. So, he knew some of my tricks going into this game. He was careful during deployment to cover the back edge of the board to hopefully limit my options for deploying my Miners along that board edge. The scenario was also kind to me, forcing me to deploy my entire army (Longbeards and characters, basically) first but allowing me to deploy the unit anywhere in the middle section of the board. After my opponent completed his deployment, I deployed my Rangers with Bugman and was able to make a full Vanguard move with my Longbeards. I liked my deployment, and having both of my hordes of angry Dwarfs on my opponent's left flank would put a great amount of pressure on him while at the same time preventing him from bringing his full force to bear against mine. It meant I would be running this game, which is a great place to be! I got to take the first turn.
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Dwarfs Turn One: With nothing else to do, I moved both of my units even closer to my opponent. A dry riverbed spanned the length of the battlefield, but it would only be treated as difficult terrain. Since I only had infantry in my army, it might as well not be there at all as far as I was concerned. By taking the first turn, I would be able to bring my Miners on, hopefully on the top of the second round, which would give my opponent only a single turn in which to respond to my initial deployment of half of my army and subsequent deployment of the other half of my army.
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Orcs and Goblins Turn One: The Savage Orc Big 'Uns ended up squabbling with the Orc 'Arrer Boyz, dealing a few casualties altogether. Then my opponent began moving up units, especially his little Goblin Bosses mounted on Wolves to use as chaff. He seemed very anxious, as though the two huge units of elite infantry on his left flank had already begun a panic in the Orcs and Goblins army's ranks. That was good to see. This game was already shaping up to be a great opportunity to put some axes into Greenskin heads! My opponent rolled poorly for the Winds of Magic, and decided to throw his few dice at Itchy Nuisance against my Shieldbeards. He rolled two sixes, granting Irresistible Force. The miscast didn't really do anything important, but the Longbeards would now be M1 and I1 until the start of my opponent's next magic phase. Shooting was a bit more telling. 11 Rangers died to my opponent's war machines. I was sad I hadn't put my BSB on the right edge of my Longbeard unit. It would have given the Rangers a chance to save at least a few of those wounds. I figured it could have been worse.
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D2: My Rangers charged the redirecting Goblin Big Boss, but I had completely forgotten about Fanatics! It's obviously been too long since I played against Goblins... too many Daemons of Chaos and High Elves around lately... Anyway, my Rangers ended up landing right on top of my opponent's two Fanatics, taking 10 more casualties! They killed the Goblin on Wolf in good order, but now I was hesitant to run them on into the Night Goblin bus beyond. I figured the unit was now untenable, but Bugman had made them Stubborn, so I figured they'd do okay until my Miners could show up to help them. Ultimately, I didn't think I'd have a hard time preserving the unit's points. I was glad I had taken them in such large numbers rather than adding a combat Thane like I had been considering. I went ahead and had them overrun, and they ended up moving right into the Night Goblins. Meanwhile, my Longbeards charged another redirecting Goblin Big Boss. They killed it easily and simply reformed. I wasn't interested in taking the bait and walking into a trap. Both my units of Miners came onto the board. Turned out I had plenty of options for places from which to deploy on the back edge of the battlefield. I thought about it briefly, then placed my Miners. There would be blood tonight!
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O&G2: This is the turn where everything unraveled for my opponent. He started by making his rolls for Animosity. The Orcs on my far left flank squabbled amongst themselves. The Savage Orcs failed and rolled a 6! They surged forward, and were forced to charge my Shieldbeards. My opponent brought the Goblin Big Boss nearby into the combat, too. I was a little nervous at first. I wasn't sure I was ready for this fight quite yet without immediate support for the Longbeards. My opponent, on the other hand, was quite frustrated by this event. He said something about needing to win this combat or he was toast. Then it dawned on me. Both his general and his BSB were in the unit. If I was able to destroy it--or even just make it flee--I would seriously hamper his entire army. The Trolls were now out of range of both of those characters' Leadership boons, and their failing of their Stupidity test--which caused them to stumble forward a mere two inches, leaving them stranded right in front of my horde of threatening Miners--was a point in case! Other units moved around as you can see below. The magic phase was unfortunate for my opponent. He was out of range of his Trolls for Hand of Gork by a hair, so he divided up his dice for two spells instead. I dispelled the first and used a RoSpellbreaking on the second. My opponent's war machines were terrible, to add insult to injury, leaving my Miners virtually unmolested. In combat, my Rangers found themselves up against a character wall of Goblin Big Bosses with Great Weapons. I lost a few Rangers, but thanks to Hatred, the Rangers did a ton of wounds in return, killing two of the Big Bosses and 9 other wounds to the unit. The Night Goblins were Steadfast, though, and rolled just under their Leadership for their break test. The Longbeards fared even better! The Orc general and BSB fluffed most of their attacks, and then I rolled an insane number of 5s and 6s for my Parry saves from the unit's attacks. In return, the Shieldbeards hit every last one of their attacks, translating that into almost two dozen wounds! The Runesmiths and Thane added another 5 wounds to that number. To top it off, I went ahead and used the Fiery Ring of Thori, rolled 11 hits, causing 4 additional unsaved wounds when all was said and done. The Savage Orcs failed to roll Insane Courage for their break test and fled, my Dwarfs giving chase. The Dwarfs proved natural sprinters and cut down the fleeing Savage Orcs! I had broken the center of the enemy battle line. If I could take out the Trolls on my following turn, the rest of the game would be nothing but mopping up the rest of the Orc and Goblin scum!
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D3: I am amazed at how fast this army gets into close combat. I charged the Trolls with my Miners, the Goblin Big Boss with my Shieldbeards (hoping to see them overrun into the Trolls), and the Orc 'Arrer Boyz with my other horde of Miners. This turn was going to be a bloodbath! The Rangers killed the remaining characters in the Night Goblin unit, including the Night Goblin Shaman, which was helpful, and then did another 9 wounds to the unit. Consistent! For their trouble, they suffered negligible casualties. They may have not taken a single wound, actually. Anyway, the Rangers broke the Night Goblins, but failed to run them down. That was fine, I thought at the time. The Rangers could finish them off with no trouble next round. I moved on to the Miners nearby, who chopped up the Orcs facing them like you can only imagine Dwarf Miners should! They pursued, caught them, ran into the fleeing Goblin on Giant Wolf beyond, caught it, and reformed back towards the enemy Shooty Things. The Shieldbeards minced the Goblin on Giant Wolf attempting to slow them down and overran, failing to reach the Trolls. I never measured, but it may have been impossible for them to have contacted the Trolls in the first place. Anyway. The Miners then took a few wounds and did a fair number in return, a rather poor performance I felt at the time, but it was enough. The Trolls needed Insane Courage to keep from running away. They failed their break test, and the Miners ran them down. (I was really getting lucky with those pursuit rolls!)
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O&G3: The Orc Boyz finally decided they had figured out "who woz gonna' bark der orderz" and charged the Miners from their rear. The Miners fled the charge. The Orcs had no hope of catching them. It was already a long charge. They stumbled forward several inches. The Miners failed a few dangerous terrain tests in their flight away from the Orcs. The Night Goblins managed to rally, which was fine by me. I figured it just gave my Dwarfs more opportunity to bash in Grobi heads! I had succeeded in eliminating all my enemy's wizards, so we moved on to the shooting phase. One Rock Lobber misfired and destroyed itself, and the Doom Divers targeted my Rangers, hoping to at least get some points out of my one seriously depleted unit. It was not to be, though. Both Doom Divers hit, but only managed 2 wounds each... The remaining Rock Lobber scattered wide off my nearest unit of Miners.
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D4: My Rangers charged the Night Goblins again, while one unit of Miners charged the Doom Diver in front of it and the Shieldbeards charged the flank of the Orc Boyz. My opponent was too close to the edge of the board for comfort, so he opted to hold with the Orcs. The fleeing Miners rallied, which was appreciated. In combat, all three units either broke or destroyed their respective enemies. The Rangers overran into the remaining Rock Lobber, and the Miners reformed to face the remaining Doom Diver.
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O&G4: The Rock Lobber was eliminated by the Rangers, who reformed to face the remaining Doom Diver. The Doom Diver attempted a shot but scattered way off.
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D5: The Miners and the Rangers charged the Doom Diver. The Rangers failed, but the Miners successfully completed their charge. The Doom Diver crew added even more greenskin blood to my Miners' already blood-soaked pickaxes.
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The Orcs and Goblins were tabled on the top of round 5! A crushing victory for the Dwarfs!

GAME THREE

The Dark Elves

Dread Lord on Chariot
Supreme Sorceress on Dark Steed
Death Hag with Cauldron of Blood (with the Witch Elves)
Dark Riders x5
Dark Riders x5
Doomfire Warlocks x5
Darkshards x10
Darkshards x10
Executioners ₂₅
Blackguard ₂₅
Witch Elves ₃₀
Cold One Chariot
Reaper Bolt Throwers x3

My last game was a Meeting Engagement against a Dark Elf Player. I think this was my first game against Dark Elves for at least a couple of years, even though I've seen them around. I knew almost nothing about them now that they have a relatively new army book against which I had not yet had so much as a single game. Now that I have had a game against a Dark Elf army with their new book, I know only slightly less than almost nothing about them. :thumbup: Anyway, I once again had to deploy first, so I plopped my Longbeards and accompanying characters down right in the center of the board. My opponent had not played against an ambushing Dwarf army ever before, so he spread his forces out across the battlefield, not knowing what to expect and wanting to have some counter to my Miners wherever they might arrive. That was nice of him, don't you think? :devil: I then deployed my Rangers in support of my Shieldbeards and got to it. I rolled a 4 for my Ancestral Grudge, meaning all my characters would hate all the Dark Elf characters, and I took the first turn. You can see our deployment after Vanguard moves below.
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Dwarfs Turn One: Bugman gave his Rangers some good stuff, making them Stubborn. I then carefully measured the distance to the Witch Elves across from my Shieldbeards. It was what I expected. He had set them up right on the edge of his deployment zone, just over 12" away. I did the math in my head and decided to move the Longbeards back 2". The Rangers were in a good position, I thought, so I decided to have them shoot. 11 dead Executioners later, my opponent was visibly nervous about their capacity to decimate units with their Crossbows. :laser:
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Dark Elves Turn One: My opponent charged his Witch Elves at my Longbeards. I held, but my opponent rolled low and my BSB's Rune of Slowness prevented the Witch Elves from completing the charge. Denied! :harhar: The Dark Elves began to encircle my units, much as the High Elves had done in my first game. I started to experience flashbacks, probably due to PTSD from that game... The magic phase was tolerable and uneventful apart from a successful cast of Regrowth on the Executioners (raising 4, I think), which I let through. I just wasn't that scared of the Executioners. The unit was so small, any one of my hordes would tear through them in probably a round or two of combat--despite taking some acceptable damage in the process, I imagine. Shooting then killed a couple of Dwarfs.
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D2: Bugman once again made his Rangers Stubborn. Once again I carefully measured the distance between the Witch Elves and my Longbeards. I once again backed them up just about an inch-and-a-half. Both units of Miners came on, and I deployed them where you can see them below. And in truly, truly Dwarf fashion, my Rangers proceeded to again fell 11 of the Executioners. I love consistency! That unit was now much depleted and posed nothing like a threat to me. I would try to get into combat with them, though, because they would net me a good number of points. Until that time, I could be patient and wait.
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DE2: The Witch Elves charged my Longbeards for a second time! They rolled a lot better this time, but so did I. My Rune of Slowness took off 6" of the Witch Elves' charge, causing them to once again fail to connect with my Shieldbeards. They stumbled forward several inches, in prime position for a double-charge from my Shieldbeards and Rangers. The rest of the Dark Elf army further enveloped my units, several moving in reaction to my Miners' sudden appearance. I swear, those Miners come on at just the right time if they show up on the second or third turn. Usually, it seems like it's been just enough time for my opponents to forget about them so that, even when they know they're coming, they're still unprepared for them when they arrive. It's brilliant. Of course, I say that, taking for granted the fact that I was often the one to forget about them when I first started using them back in late 6th/early 7th edition. That was at least as frustrating for me as they tend to be for my opponents now that I remember about them. Ha! Anyway, the magic phase saw Regrowth cast on the Executioners again, this time with Irresistible Force. It raised 3 of them, and the miscast put a wound on the Sorceress and drained my opponent's remaining power dice. I was happy enough about that. Shooting killed surprisingly few Dwarfs again, partly due to armour, partly due to the MRoGrungni, and partly due to the stacking of to-hit modifiers that had most of his shooting hitting on 4+ or worse. In fact, my opponent rolled 3s for two flank shots at my right-most unit of Miners for single-shots with his Reaper Bolt Throwers. Because they count as being in soft cover on the turn they arrive, both of those shots missed, leaving the Miners unmolested.
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D3: Bugman gave his Rangers a particularly potent chug of his finest, making them Toughness 5 for this round. I was very pleased with that, since that would force the Witch Elves to wound on 6s, except for their poisoned attacks. I then sounded the Silver Horn of Vengeance! I charged my Shieldbeards and my Rangers into the Witch Elves. Both units needed relatively low rolls, but fortunately they both successfully completed their charges nonetheless. The Miners on the right charged the Executioners, while the Miners on the left charged the Bolt Thrower immediately in front of them. This was going to be a good turn. I hoped. I have heard horror stories about Witch Elves, so I was ready for the worst. I anticipated significant losses, especially for the Longbeards, since they were in the unit's front. The Miners on the left chopped up the Reaper Bolt Thrower crew and overran into the next one. The Miners on the right took several casualties but managed to slaughter the unit outright in return, reforming to face the remaining unengaged Bolt Thrower. Then we moved to the important combat. The Witch Elves put so many attacks into my units that my opponent had to roll 4 or 5 sets of dice! But in the end, after armour saves and Parry saves, I lost a single Ranger, three Shieldbeards, and took a wound on my Runesmith with the Silver Horn. In return, my units put almost as many attacks back into the Witch Elves, killing them down to a single rank. My opponent failed to roll double 1s, and the Witch Elves fled! My units both pursued, cutting them down. The Longbeards overran into the Supreme Sorceress beyond, blocking my Rangers who had to just sit there and rest for a bit. I let them all sit down, audaciously flaunting their victory--and ale--in the face of the rest of the Dark Elf forces. I'm pretty sure that showing by my Shieldbeards put the fear of God into my opponent if it wasn't there already. :respect:
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DE3: My opponent continued to respond in near panic to my unchecked hordes mucking about amongst his lines. I could tell he was a bit flustered by everything so far, because he was jumping from one decision to the next without remembering what he had wanted to do a moment before. It was an obvious change from his much more reasoned, methodical approach to deployment and our first round of the game. Magic failed to do anything significant. I let Flesh to Stone through, cast on his Supreme Sorceress. I was going to have enough high-strength attacks (still under the effects of the Silver Horn) that I just wasn't concerned about her being Toughness 5. Shooting did a few wounds here and there. In combat, my Shieldbeards killed the Sorceress and overran into his Dread Lord general on a Cold One Chariot.The Miners on the left killed the Bolt Thrower crew and overran, coming up short by an inch or two of the Darkshards near the middle of the battlefield. That was good by me, though, since I would be able to charge them properly on my following turn.
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D4: The Miners on the right charged the remaining Reaper Bolt Thrower, while the Miners on the left charged the Dark Shards. The Rangers decided they'd be done with their beer break and reformed to face off against the Dark Riders and Warlocks. In combat, the Shieldbeards did enough wounds to send the Dreadlord packing and reformed to face off against the Blackguard rather than pursue the Dread Lord. The Miners chewed up the Bolt Thrower crew and came within 2 inches of running the Dread Lord down with their overrun. The Miners on the left killed the Darkshards outright and also reformed.
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DE4: The Dread Lord rallied, and the rest of the Dark Elves just moved around to get into better positions. The Warlocks attempted Doom Bolt on my Rangers, but I shut it down with a Rune of Spellbreaking. Shooting did practically nothing.
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D5: The Shieldbeards charged the Blackguard, who were probably the Dark Elves' forlorn hope at this point. The Miners on the right charged the Dread Lord. I knew I would lose some, but with those high-strength attacks on the charge, I was confident they'd be able to take him out before the game was through. The Longbeards took some casualties, but they did enough damage in return to send the Blackguard packing, running them down! The Miners likewise took some casualties but managed to slay the Dread Lord. My opponent called the game there.
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So, there you have it, folks! It seems like it's all-or-nothing with this ambushing Dwarf army! I had a great time, felt like I was playing my signature force again. It was a lot of fun to dominate the movement phase, and my units were fantastic in close combat. I really appreciated the Shieldbeards, and they may have to make a regular appearance in my lists from now on, since they're Core and so tough with decent damage in horde formation. More thoughts later.

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed the reports, maybe gleaned something from them, learned something--at the very least, I hope I've entertained you with my emoticons... :coffee: I'll see ya' next time!