Escalation League Battle Report: 1250 pts. vs. Dwarfs

 Had another League game today against Dwarfs. Need to try to get one last game in after this before the end of the month. We bump up to 2000 pts. in December. Anyway, we played a standard Battle Line game.

My list:



Queek Headtaker - General
Chieftain - BSB, Tail Weapon, Hand Weapon & Shield, Poison Attacks, Storm Banner

30 Queek's Stormvermin (a little more expensive but +1 WS/S) - Shields, Razor Standard, Full Command w/ Tail Weapon on Champion.
35 Clanrats - HW & Shield, Full Command
37 Slaves - HW & Shield, Musician
5 Gutter Runners - Slings, Poison

Warp Lightning Cannon

You may notice I am sans weapon teams. I love my weapon teams (well, except for the Poison Wind Mortar as it has yet to do more than kill a couple skeleton cavalry and an Ogre or two. I've killed more of my own guys with it than not), but I needed to get bodies in the list. Queek and the BSB took up a lot of points.

My opponent had:
Hero character
Thane
2 Engineers

20 or so Longbeard, Standard
20 Warriors with Great Weapons and shields, Standard
10 Thunderers
2 Cannons
2 Bolt Throwers

I should have asked to see his list, so the numbers are a bit fuzzy except for the Thunderers. I don't know if he had any special runes and such.

Deployment looked like this:

The tower on the west was a Tower of Blood, so Hatred to anything within 6" (which we both forgot about) and Frenzy to forces of destruction (that's me!) within 6". The southern building on the east side was a haunted house... auto hits against anything within 6", and the other structures were standard. I left my Gutter Runners in reserve for their Sneaky Infiltration.

Skaven Turn 1

My three infantry blocks march forward.
    The Warp Lightning Cannon fires at the lower cannon starting 10 inches away, getting an 8 on the deviation and 2" on the bounce landing it right on top. Sadly, I rolled a 1 on my number of wounds, so it just killed off one of the crew.

Dwarf Turn 1

I activate the Storm Banner which causes the Thunderers -- needing a 7+ -- and the Bolt Throwers to miss. The cannons both pass the 4+ roll to fire, but he starts the first cannon shot 2" away landing deep in the Clanrat formation and then misfires on the bounce. So the cannon ball takes out that one rat. The second cannon up on the hill misfires and blows up.

Skaven Turn 2

The units march again, putting themselves in a good position to charge, but making it a long charge for the Dwarfs. The Gutter Runners show up this turn.
    The WLC gets perfect placement with its shot, landing right in the middle of the Great Weapon warriors with a S8 shot, taking out 13 of them. The Hero in the unit passes the Look Out Sir! roll, and the unit passes its Panic check. I was so excited over the wonderful shot, I totally forgot to have my Gutter Runners use their slings.

Dwarf Turn 2

The Storm Banner, sadly, goes away.
    He aims his cannon 2" in front again and with those deviation and bounce, he takes out 2 Clanrats. However, he piles the shooting on that unit, trying to get it to break, killing 3 with the Bolt Throwers, and 4 with the Thunderers. However, with Queek within 12" and Strength in Numbers, I was rolling on Ld 10 and passed easily.

Skaven Turn 3

The Slaves charge the Bolt Thrower, The Stormvermin charge the Longbeards, and the Clanrats charge the Thunderers, losing 4 to a Stand & Shoot. All of them easily make the charge range.
    The WLC tries to shoot the Great Weapons again, but I misfire and can't shoot this turn. I finally remember the Gutter Runners and fire their slings at the Bolt Thrower but only kill 1. It's enough for a Panic test, but they hold.
    In the combat phase, the now Frenzied slaves (remember the Tower of Blood?) kill off 2 of the crew and take no wounds in return. They win combat 6-0, but the Engineer makes them Stubborn and hold on their unmodified Ld. The Clanrats take out 2 Thunderers and lose 1 in return, winning combat 6-1. The Thunderers break and are run down. The Warriors and both War Machines make their Panic tests. Queek Challenges the Thane to combat (has to) and I proceed to hit and wound with all his attacks. The Thane had no Ward Save so he was dead with a +4 overkill. The Chieftain and Stormvermin combine for 2 kills and lose 3 in return, winning combat 14-7. The Longbeards, needing snake eyes to hold, flee and are cut down. The Warriors continue to hold fast.

Dwarf Turn 3

The Warriors reform to face the enemies now in the back line.
    The cannon uses grapeshot on the Clanrats, but the deviation finds it clipping 2 rats of which 1 dies. EDIT: I have had it pointed out to me that my opponent did grapeshot wrong. But hey, it let him get excited about tearing some rats apart, so it's all good.
    In combat, the Slaves take out the rest of the Bolt Thrower crew and reform to face the Warriors flank.

Skaven Turn 4

The Slaves charge the Warriors in the flank ad the Gutter Runners charge the Bolt Thrower.
    The WLC fires a shot at the warriors. The Deviation has it fall short of the Slaves' block and clips one slave on the bounce, going 10 inches. It takes out that slave and then takes out 2 Dwarfs for good measure.
    In combat, the Slaves whiff on the Warriors and the Hero who made way to the flank kills 2. The Slaves still win combat by 2 but the Dwarfs hold. They try to combat reform but fail the Ld test to do so. The Gutter Runners gaff their combat as well. The Crew manages 1 W but I make the 6+ ward save. Combat was 1-0 (1 for charging). The crew holds.

Dwarf Turn 4

This time the cannon uses grapeshot at the further Stormvermin unit, rolling 8 on the deviation, shredding 9 Stormvermin who pass their Panic check. (and Queek passed the LOS roll) Good thing to as they easily could have run off the board!
    In combat, the Gutter Runners get 5 poison (!) and 1 regular wound, wiping out the War Machine. The Slaves whiff again, and the Hero only kills 1. The Slaves win by 2 and he muffs the Ld roll on a 10 and the Slaves run them down.

At this point my opponent conceded with only a cannon left. A crushing victory for the Skaven! I don't know how much a Dwarf cannon costs, but I will assume 100 pts. So VP total was roughly 1325-0. However, karma's a fickle lady and right after I got packed up, I bumped my tray and knocked my Queek failcast model onto the floor and a hand broke off! The stupid thing is so light, I can't believe it broke on a 4 ft. fall. I understand what people meant when they said it was fragile!

It was a fun game (not just because I won) and my opponent had fun too. He was excited to use grapeshot finally. I was excited to see my WLC do so well. Truth be told, he had some critical rolls go against him at the worst times. Murphy's Law and all that. Like that break test on the Warriors. The Slaves totally whiffed, failing to wound, yet still won combat by 2 and he rolls a 10 for his Break test. Happens to the best of us.

Until next time... watch your back!