[font="Calibri"]This week I played my 3[sup]rd[/sup] game of Fantasy (not including the [warhammertag8]BfSP[/warhammertag8] scenarios) I'm still learning and made a number of mistakes, but it was a very fun and close round[/font]

[font="Calibri"]My list:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarf Lord shieldbearers, shield, RoResistance, MRoSpite, RoFurnace, RoCleaving, RoFury[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Runesmith great weapon, shield, RoBallance, RoSpellbreaking[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Thane BSB, MRoGromil, RoResistance, RoFurnace[/font]

[font="Calibri"]20 warriors shields, FC[/font]

[font="Calibri"]18 Longbeards shields, FC, RoBattle, RoDetermination[/font]

[font="Calibri"]10 thunderers shields[/font]

[font="Calibri"]10 Quarrelers shields[/font]

[font="Calibri"]18 ironbreakers shields, RoBattle[/font]

[font="Calibri"]10 slayers[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Cannon RoForging, RoBurning[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Grudge Thrower RoAccuracy, RoReloading[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Organ Gun[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Gyrocopter[/font]

[font="Calibri"]This list is meant to be a fairly all-comers list, so there are a number of things that didn't really help in this game. I got a game with a ghoul-themed [warhammertag128]VC[/warhammertag128] army. I played him a week before for a small game to get used to the rules at 1000 points and lost horribly after losing both of my warmachines to misfires on turn 1. This time was a good deal better.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]This is his list (sort of. I don't know enough about [warhammertag128]VC[/warhammertag128] to know what all he had, but this is what I remember)[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Vampire Lord lvl 4 caster, +1 S sword, eternal hatred, red haze (I think. The one the gives him bonus attacks for wounds caused), armor that gives a 4+ ward save and something giving him extra movement[/font]

[font="Calibri"]3 other vampires 1 was [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13], 1 had a magical book that has a bound spell that gives a free move TO a friendly unit. all of them were [warhammertag82]lvl[/warhammertag82] 1 casters with eternal hatred and some other equipment that didn't cause a significant enough difference for me to remember who had what[/font]

[font="Calibri"]3 large ghoul units 1 vampire went in each of them, with the general and [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13] in the same one[/font]

[font="Calibri"]1 unit of blood knights with some magic banner[/font]

[font="Calibri"]2 units of 5 bats[/font]

[font="Calibri"]A unit of wraiths. Don't remember how many of them there were. ₇ [/font]

[font="Calibri"][/font]

[font="Calibri"]Deployment:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]The board had one medium hill in the center my deployment zone, a forest directly in front of that hill, some ruins and a wall close to his deployment zone. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]From my right to left I deployed my cannon, warriors, quarrelers, grudge thrower, longbeards (with runesmith and [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13], thunderers, ironbreakers (with Lord) Organ gun, slayers and my [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] (behind the forest) nothing was to the left of the hill/forest in the center.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]His deployment was 3 ghoul units with vampires in the center of his deployment with the bats screening from the front. The blood knights were on my left flank slightly behind one unit of bats. The banshees were on my extreme left. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]Turn 1:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarfs: I won the roll off and went first. My slayers moved up to the forrest and my [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] jumped to hide behind the small ruins for the turn. Nothing else had any need to move. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]Shooting failed to do very much, as my thunderers and [warhammertag99]OG[/warhammertag99] were out of range and my Grudge thrower misfired. Luckily it didn't blow up, and because of the RoReloading would get to fire next turn anyways. My cannon rolled a 10 on the shot and barely missed the ghouls it was firing at. My quarrelers knocked off 1 wound on a bat.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]VC: everything moved up. One unit of bats headed for my cannon, the other on towards the hill with my organ gun and slayers with the blood knights right behind them. The wraiths moved toward my [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53]. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]The first magic phase of the game was very bad. For the vampires. Most of his spells to raise more ghouls failed or were easily handled by my dispel dice. I think he got about 4 ghouls total. I failed to stop his book's bound spell, and he moved a unit of ghouls on my right up a bit. His lord then cast curse of years at my longbeards, but miscast, losing a wizard level and forgetting how to cast curse of years.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Turn 2:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarfs: not much moved again this turn. My warriors set up to counter charge the bats when they attacked my cannon next turn, as there was no way to keep a flying skirmishing unit from getting to my cannon, I figured I would finish them off next turn. The [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] passed its terror check and jumped between 2 ghoul units out of sight.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Shooting was much better this turn. The organ gun managed to take out 2 blood knights, the grudge thrower killed a couple of ghouls. My cannon failed to do anything. The thunderers and quarrelers had a great round and took 7 wounds off the two bats units, bringing them both down to 3 models. the [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53]'s steam gun took down a couple ghouls.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]VC: charges were declared on my organ gun and cannon by the two bat units and the blood knights charged my slayers. The wraiths moved towards the middle of the formation, trying to close down some gyrocopter lanes. His march-blocked ghouls shuffled down the field.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]The magic phase was once again less than impressive. Only a couple of spells got off, adding about 6 or so ghouls. The general tried to cast a magic missile on my grudge thrower, but it was dispelled.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]In the first close combat of the game, the bats killed one organ gun crew and suffered a wound in return. Bats won by outnumbering, which meant I had to roll snake-eyes. Didn't happen and the crew decided to run faster than they ever had in their lives, rolling double 6s and running clear off the board. The slayers bravely faced their blood knight adversaries and all found the honorable death they desired. 9 were cut down by the knights, and the last one died a less noble death when a horse started chewing on his Mohawk and kicked him to death. On my other flank, my did one wound and the bats failed their rolls which resulted in another wound from losing combat.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Turn 3:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarfs: the warrior block declared a charge on the bats in combat with my cannon. The lord and ironbreakers moved up in the blood knights' faces but weren't going to be getting a charge this turn. The [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] hopped around to a better angle away from the wraiths.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]With no more warmachine hunter type units running around in plain sight, my shooting was focused on the general's ghoul unit. Between my grudge thrower, thunderers and quarrelers, and steam gun, I managed to get the unit down to the general, BSB and 4 ghouls.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]In the one close combat of the round, my warriors easily finished off the bats.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]VC: the remaining bats charge my [warhammertag50]GT[/warhammertag50] and the blood knights charged my Lord. Everything else moved up, still partly marchblocked by the [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53]. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]Magic was only slightly more productive this time around, raising up a fair number of ghouls. By this point, he was getting frustrated with his magic, as I was having great luck with dispel rolls and he was having less than average luck with power dice.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]In [warhammertag17]CC[/warhammertag17], my [warhammertag50]GT[/warhammertag50] crew managed to do 2 wounds to the bats for none in return (I actually made a 6+ armor save here). The bats lost another 3 wounds due to [warhammertag25]CR[/warhammertag25] which killed them all! The blood knights killed several ironbreakers, and only lost 1 in return when my lord whiffed. I lost combat by 2 but stood strong[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Turn 4:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarfs: the dwarfs had no charges this turn, but shuffled around a bit to accept charges next turn. The [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] once again hopped around causing trouble, but this wouldn't last much longer.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]In the shooting phase, the missile troops once again ganged up on the general's unit, knocking off the ghouls that had come back last turn. By this point the unit only had 2 ghouls left. The [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] steamed another squad, killing a couple. Would have been nice to hit the general but the wraiths were making that tough.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]In combat, the knights did significantly less damage as my ironbreakers made a good number of armor saves. The Lord did much better this time, and once all the fighting and [warhammertag25]CR[/warhammertag25] wounds were done, the blood knights were history. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]VC: the vampire lord charged out of his ghoul unit into my thunderers, the wraiths charged my ironbreakers and some ghouls charged my quarrelers. Several ghouls dropped to the two stand and shoot reactions. The other ghoul unit shuffled forward once more.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Magic was bad for me this time. Lots of ghouls came back. Oh well[/font]

[font="Calibri"]In close combat, the banshees killed a couple ironbreakers with their flank charge, with no wound back because the wraiths just laugh at metal hammers and axes. The ironbreakers still managed to win by 1. The general killed 5 thunderers, who somehow thought it would be smart to stick around after re-rolling for the [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13] nearby. The quarrelers lost combat and were outnumbered by fear-causers, so they ran. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]Turn 5:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarfs: my longbeards charged the general's flank and the [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] decided to cause a little more trouble and charged the left flank ghouls flank. The warriors reformed to face the ghouls that had run after the quarrelers. The quarrelers failed to regroup and ran off the board. The Dwarf Lord moved over to the flank to fight the wraiths[/font]

[font="Calibri"]There wasn't much shooting this turn. The [warhammertag50]GT[/warhammertag50] fired at the ghouls near the warriors on the right flank, but grazed the unit only killing 2. The cannon used grapeshot taking down a couple more. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]In [warhammertag17]CC[/warhammertag17], the dwarf lord killed a couple wraiths, and the ironbreakers lost several RnF members but won by a small margin. The vampire general issued a challenge which killed off my Longbeard Veteran. The Longbeards' SCR won the day, causing the vampire to make 5 ward saves. Which he made the [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] killed one ghoul and lost combat, autofleeing from the scary ghouls, but forcing them to run backwards to pursue and easily outstripping its slow ghoul pursuers. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]VC: the [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13] and his ghouls charged the [warhammertag75]LB[/warhammertag75] flank to help their general and the right flank ghouls charged my warriors. The other ghouls just shuffled around a bit. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]Magic brought back a couple ghouls, but it was mostly shut down. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]In [warhammertag17]CC[/warhammertag17], the vampire issued another challenge which was accepted by my [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13]. They both wounded each other, but lived. The longbeards and runesmith on the flank managed to kill a few ghouls. I won combat by 1, which wounded the General and some ghouls. My general killed off the remaining wraiths in his combat. My warriors lost combat with the ghouls, but because of some earlier shooting and some damage from the quarreler combat they were not outnumbered and managed to stick around.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Turn 6: [/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarfs: my ironbreakers and lord declared a charge on the remaining ghoul unit of the left, but failed their fear check. Drat. The [warhammertag53]Gyro[/warhammertag53] regrouped, and nothing else really moved. My warmachines fired at the remaining ghouls, but I was way off on my [warhammertag50]GT[/warhammertag50] guess and my cannon fell way short when it rolled a 4 and a 2.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]In combat, my warriors won combat by a small margin on the flank. In the large combat, I managed to take down his [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13] with the longbeards, but his general in turn killed my [warhammertag13]BSB[/warhammertag13] in the challenge. A couple longbeards died, but won by enough to force the general to take 4 ward saves, which killed him. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]VC: the free unit of ghouls decided to stay away from my ironbreakers. Nothing else could move. Magic brought back a ton of ghouls, as I rolled badly on my dispelling and he rolled really well when seeing how many ghouls would come back. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]In Close Combat, because of all the extra ghouls, I lost the Longbeard combat and was run down after failing my insane courage check. The warriors suffered a similar fate, running off the board. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]End of the Game[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Dwarfs:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Units killed 1470[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Killed general 100[/font]

[font="Calibri"][/font]

[font="Calibri"]VC[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Units killed 1332[/font]

[font="Calibri"]2 captured standards - 200[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Result: Draw[/font]

[font="Calibri"][/font]

[font="Calibri"]Thoughts after the game:[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Wow, Vampires are a tough army to beat! Even with all of my shooting at those ghouls, I didn't end with a single one of them under 50%. Even the one I knocked down to 2 ghouls at one point. Also, all those vampires and the blood knights with hatred were tough to beat. Hatred really saved him several times this game. It looked like I was going to pull out a win until that very last turn when things went wrong on several fronts at once.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]Several things I learned from this game. First, I really liked the MRoBalance. It worked out much better against [warhammertag128]VC[/warhammertag128] than an extra spellbreaker would have. With so many spells being cast on single dice, you need a lot of dispel dice to stop it. And stealing one from his pool to get it is great.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]The lord with shieldbearers worked out very well. He is so hard to kill and can dish out some hurt. Most of the players in my area seem to take anvils. Shield lords seem to be very rare, and all the people watching were very happy to see something a little different doing so well. [/font]

[font="Calibri"]Also, I am very happy with my gyrocopter. He had to be the MVP for sure in this game. He didn't kill a whole lot, but he made a royal mess of the vampire line with marchblocking and charging to misdirect ghouls. He was certainly the most annoying thing for my opponent who just didn't have a way to kill it. Against something with some real shooting I doubt it would have done so well, but we'll see how that works out sometime in the future.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]As for improvements, I really need to work on my guess ranges. My warmachines didn't kill nearly as much as they should have. I just don't have a good grasp on guessing things properly. I still did some damage but it could have been better.[/font]

[font="Calibri"]I could have done better with positioning stuff. For example, my slayers. If I had angled them a bit better, I could have gotten those blood knights to overrun into the forest, getting stuck there for a while.[/font]

[font="Calibri"][/font]

[font="Calibri"]Thanks for reading my first fantasy battle report. Comments are welcome, both on the report and my list! thanks[/font]