Hi all, we just started out the Great Lakes Warhammer League. We have to play 5 games total against different opponents, and we are allowed some degree of customization in our armies. My first opponent knew he was playing dwarfs and I knew I was playing ogres. So our lists were somewhat tailored to face eachother. The League takes place over many months and the winners of each area go down to a big tournament in southern Michigan at the end.

My list:
Hortennse Deepstone
Runelord
shield
Rune of Balance
Rune of Resistance
Rune of Stone
Rune of spellbreaking x2
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Airk Thoughbearer (yes, an homage to "Willow")[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]1 Thane BSB- [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Rune of Resistance [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Master rune of Challenge [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Master rune of Gromril [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]The Grim Brotherhood of the Lost Hold[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]35 Hammerers (FCG) [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Master Rune of Grugni [/font][/font]
[font=Calibri][font=Calibri]The Border Watch[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]38 Warriors (great weapons, FCG)[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]The Deepstone Mining Company[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]43 GW warriors (FCG)[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]-Cannon [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Rune of forging [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]-Organ gun [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]-Cannon [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]burning [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]-Bolt Thrower [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Engineer [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Handgun[/font][/font]
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[font=Arial][font=Arial]Hortennse, Daughter of Thomac Deepstone[/font][/font]

[font=Arial][font=Arial]The forces of the Ogres included (roughly):[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Slaughtermaster- dispell scroll, extra hw, 5+ ward[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]BSB Bruiser- Great weapon, 5+ ward, ironcurse Icon[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]10 Ogres[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]10 Ogres[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]10 Ironguts (with the Slaughtermaster and Brusier)[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]3 Gorgers[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]3 Sabretusks[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Ironblaster[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]6 Leadbelchers[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Deployment:[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]We rolled Meeting Engagement, which was really bad for me especially after he won the deployment roll, because I needed a 6 to get the first turn, which I did not roll. My opponent deployed pretty much everything as close to the line as possible. I was tempted to go for the back corner, but decided instead to deploy to one side, because my opponent had deployed most of his hardest hitting units on the far side of the board and I wanted them to get to me at late as possible. I deployed pretty tight, risking getting hit hard by The Maw, but I wanted to frustrate his ability to get to my war machines. The only significant factors in the terrain were a couple marshes that hurt the ogres a bit throughout the game.[/font][/font]
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[font=Arial][font=Arial]Turn 1: [/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Ogres- Marched forward pretty fast in general. His Ironblaster misfired and could not shoot this turn or the next. His magic phase was very weak, he only got 3 dice to my 6, so nothing went through.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Dwarfs- I mostly stayed put, my only moves were to leave the hammerers with my BSB and Runelord so that his Gorgers couldn't come in right by my cannons and organ gun. Shooting started horrible (my rune of forging cannon misfired on BOTH rolls and couldnt shoot this turn or the next), but ended great, my other cannon hit his Ironblaster for 3 wounds and my Organ gun got 10 hits on the Leadbelchers, killing 2 of them.[/font][/font]
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[font=Arial][font=Arial]Turn 2:[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Ogres- Bulls attempted a charge on my right-warrior block, but failed and took a couple wounds in the marsh. Shooting did nothing. His magic dice went a lot better and he total powered a magic missile at my now-exposed Battle Standard Bearer, and he almost killed it (Banner of Grugni saved him with 1 wound left!). The miscast roll was a pretty bad one, and his General lost 2 levels and 2 spells and the phase ended. 1 Gorger came into play and came out right by my Bolt Thrower.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Dwarfs: I charged his leadbelchers with my left-side Warriors and his ogre block with my Hammerers, he fled from both charges. Shooting went awesome, my cannon finished off his Ironblaster, and my Organ gun shot his Ironguts and rolled a 10 (again!) for 7 wounds. My bolt thrower killed a Sabretusk and prepared to face the gorger...[/font][/font]

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[font=Arial][font=Arial]Turn 3:[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Ogres: My opponent forgot his gorger rolls this turn, which was lucky for my war machines. He charged into my Warriors with his Ironguts, starting a nasty combat in which my dwarfs gave almost as good as they got. He moved a sabretusk to block my hammerers as well. The rest of the ogres he mostly held back for points denial (they weren't going to be able to handle my hammerer block).[/font][/font]
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[size=medium][font=Arial][font=Arial]Dwarfs: Combat got REALLY intense between the Ironguts and my warriors, but they did really well considering what they were up against. I wounded both his characters badly and killed most of his rank and file. My cannon killed some more leadbelchers and my other cannon held on against the sabretusk attacks, my Organ Gun rolled its THIRD STRAIGHT 10, and killed plenty more ogres.[/font][/font][/size]
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[font=Arial][font=Arial]Turns 4-6: These turns were kind of brief. Basically, my hammerers ran down the leadbelchers and then chased the ogres without catching any of them. My warriors turned around to fight the gorgers that arrived to attack my artillery. My war machines all died, but they held for a long time. This was good in the case of the Bolt thrower, since it kept the gorger from killing my warrior block sooner, and my cannon held a whopping 3 turns against the sabretusk, but my other cannon was so brave that it prevented my warriors from charging and killing the gorger. The most important thing was that my warriors killed his BSB before being broken off the board. His ironguts were wrecked but intact (soooo many points out of reach) and they ran away for the rest of the fight.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Result: I killed his BSB, 2 sabretusks, a gorger, his leadbelchers and his Ironblaster 851 points[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]He killed my block of 43 warriors, my cannons, my organ gun, and my bolt thrower 891 points[/font][/font]

[font=Arial][font=Arial]Draw (1 league point for each of us, victories are 2 and losses are 0)[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Final Thoughts: Considering how bad things looked when we rolled the scenario, I was very happy with a draw. Gunner's Pride is an awesome ability and really slowed down all his war machine hunters, allowing my other machines to shoot a lot longer than they otherwise would have. My one regret is that I should have marched my hammerers forward sooner than I did. In retrospect they were such a powerful unit that they should have killed at least one of his blocks. They probably could have taken out his Ironguts and lord. I did intend to get a nice flank charge on that unit, but he charge blocked me with a sabretusk and then his leadbelchers, which was a smart move. Really fun game overall, it bothers me that "smart" Warhammer seems to turn into a "run-away" fest at the end of so many games, but for my part I need to be more proactive in preventing my opponents from doing so by taking the fight to them early. It's a good lesson to learn early on in the league games. I wont misuse my best unit like this again. It was one of those games where I outkilled my opponent but failed to finish off his biggest units, but regrets aside, my opponent is a very good player and I should feel good about scoring a draw.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]MVPs: Organ gun (I rolled three 10's and an 8 in 4 shots), and my war machine crews, just for sticking around twice as long as they should have in combat against the nasty gorgers. My warrior block ran in the end, but they sure fought well and killed the BSB which was crucial.[/font][/font]
[font=Arial][font=Arial]Underachievers: I misused my strongest block, the hammerers. I should have gone right at my opponent with these, the worst part was wasting the Rune of Smiting, which could have killed massive amounts of ogres by itself.[/font][/font]

[font=Arial][font=Arial]Next up: High elves[/font][/font]